Immigration fostering racial ‘cold war’, says human rights org

A human rights organisation in London claimed that immigration was nurturing racism and mass immigration has led to a racial 'cold war' among rival ethnic communities in the UK.

A human rights organisation in London on Monday claimed that immigration was nurturing racism and mass immigration has led to a racial ‘cold war’ among rival ethnic communities in the UK.

Noting that “failed” immigration policy risked nurturing racism, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Phillips said although the arrival of thousands of migrants from Eastern Europe might benefit those who could afford to employ them as nannies, it risked alienating poorer Britons who have to compete with the new arrivals for space in schools and on buses.

In an address to mark the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech in which the Conservative politician warned of the dangerous consequences of the rising level of immigration, Phillps, also speaking at the same Birmingham hotel yesterday, said such predictions had not come true.

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He, however, warned that an out-of-control immigration policy had sparked a “war” that was just as worrying.

“Powell predicted hot conflict and violence. However, we have seen the emergence of a kind of cold war in some parts of the country, where very separate communities exist side by side… with poor communication across racial or religious lines,” he said.