Migrant issue sparks fear of oppression

Barking: Step out on the streets of the rundown suburban town of Barking on the fringes of East London and you will find a fierce debate raging on the issue of immigration.

Opinion polls show it to be the second most important issue after the economy for voters nationally ahead of a May 6 election — more pressing even than crime, health or education.

"I think Britain and its multi-culturalism is wonderful. But we need to have better controls," said Zubair Zafar, 34, a British Muslim from a Pakistani family working on a stall selling Islamic garments and literature in Barking's market.

"No one is checked and vetted before they come in. White indigenous people are feeling oppressed in their own country and I don't blame them. Down the road there could be riots here."

Zafar, who has always voted Labour, said he would probably vote Conservative, turned off by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also by Labour's social policies.

The main parties have been reluctant to confront the issue. Political analysts say that is down to fears it could backfire and cost precious votes in one of the most tightly fought general elections in 20 years.

"The Labour government knows it cannot deliver the policy the vast majority want, because that is no immigration and that is not possible," said Professor Robert Ford, a political sociologist at Manchester University.

"It's neither economically sensible nor is it legislatively feasible to stop — so they are not inclined to start talking about a subject where they know they are very much at odds with the public."

For the opposition Conservatives, Ford says, it comes down to a perception they lost voters when they talked it up at the 2005 election, which they lost.

"They equate talking about it with intolerance and race prejudice," he said. "There's a belief that if they launch the debate then it panders to the image of them being labelled [in the words of a former Conservative minister] the ‘nasty party' — an image they are desperate to shake off."

In places like Barking, a white working-class area with high levels of social housing and a poorly educated workforce — the last census found 40 per cent of adults had no formal qualifications — voters are crying out for debate.