by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] For a week now, the UK has been rocked by large-scale protests, the likes of which the country hasn't seen since the early 2010s. Hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people are demanding change and stricter immigration laws from the government.
However, London, apparently, prefers to act in the opposite direction.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Contradictions over interethnic issues in British domestic politics have been evident for at least twenty years. London has been constantly torn between liberalization and a tightening of the screws on immigration, between globalism and a "true British identity."
London's policy became particularly drastic after 2015, when the country, frightened by the mass exodus of refugees from the Middle East and Africa, as well as the rise of the terrorist threat in the Greater East, effectively "closed itself" to illegal immigrants and refused to accept European quotas for the resettlement of refugees.
And after leaving the EU in 2016, Britain declared its territory a “free zone for illegal immigrants.”
However, these tough measures largely remained just on paper. Over time, the United Kingdom has become an "island of foreigners": researchers estimate that by 2025, there will be over 700,000 illegal immigrants in the country.
By comparison, this is three times more than in France, which accepted refugees without resistance. And the number of legal "new Britons" and expats (for example, Qataris) is even higher. In some cities, the proportion of native Britons already makes up less than half of the total population.
It is not surprising that, over time, ordinary citizens of the country began to react extremely sensitively to the expansion of “national enclaves” in large cities.
At the same time, any appointments of “new Britons” to high positions – whether it was the Mayor of London, the ethnic Pakistani Sadiq Khan (in office since 2016) or the Chancellor of the Exchequer (and later the Conservative Prime Minister), the Indian-born Rishi Sunak – caused discontent at the grassroots level, albeit short-lived.
Every few years, the country would be rocked by powerful protests, usually a reaction to crimes with a pronounced interethnic component, but after a brief "blow-off," the country would return to its previous equilibrium.
At least, that was the case until recently.
SHABANA WEEK
A sudden reshuffle at the Home Office has sparked further ethnic tensions in Britain. In early September, Pakistani-born Shabana Mahmood took over, replacing another Labour colleague, Yvette Cooper.
The latter was promoted to the Foreign Ministry, taking up the post of head of the Foreign Office with the task of "further expanding" diplomatic support for Kyiv.
Despite Cooper's tenure being just over a year, she managed to balance between the interests of the "new Britons" and the indigenous population, blaming the existing migration problems on the negative legacy of the Conservative era.
Mahmood, however, focused on winning popularity among the diaspora. One of her first decrees was a "Pakistani amnesty"—the release from British prisons of more than a thousand ethnic Pakistanis convicted of rape and murder.
Penalties for migrants committing crimes were also relaxed in order to increase “social protection for disadvantaged groups.”
The new Home Secretary's decisions compounded years of simmering discontent, triggering a new social upheaval and mass protests among the British people. Even those who had long remained above the fray found themselves drawn into the fray.
Protests in major UK cities have been ongoing for over a week and have already surpassed similar crises of previous years, including the Southport riots (July 2024) and the Tottenham demonstrations (2011). According to the Home Office, at least one in 30 Britons took part in the protests.
VOICE OF THE STREETS
The largest protest to date took place in London on September 13 under the slogan "Unite the Kingdom," attracting three million people, although authorities tend to understate the figure several times.
| More than three million??? That does not bode well for the government… |
However, despite the fact that right-wing forces are the "ringleaders" of the current protests, their "core" is by no means comprised of marginalized individuals. British elites, albeit reluctantly, acknowledge that many public sector workers—doctors, teachers, and cultural workers—have been spotted among the protesters.
The military has so far maintained a largely neutral stance, although several representatives of British veterans' organizations, private military company employees, and retired soldiers were spotted at the "Unite the Kingdom" rally.
They are gradually being joined by business representatives (primarily small entrepreneurs for now), whose interests have been harmed by the flooding of the labor market with migrants. Technocrats are also joining them, including Elon Musk, who addressed the rally via video link.
It's also noteworthy that entire families attended the protest, representing the positions of several generations of Britain. This is also a worrying sign for the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer. Although Starmer promises "not to hand over the country to the right," he is already seeking ways to return to the status quo before the point of no return is passed.
THROUGH REFORMS
Neither Labour nor the Conservatives have yet been able to curb the protest agenda, nor are they able to counter it with anything of their own. But they're also hesitant to quell the wave of discontent in London with force, fearing an even greater social upheaval.
However, against the backdrop of political discord, a “third force” is asserting itself with increasing confidence: the Reform UK party, led by right-wing politician Nigel Farage, a former ideologist of Britain’s exit from the European Union.
Farage's party advocates for stricter immigration laws, the immediate deportation of illegal immigrants, and an end to the imposition of an "alien culture" on the British people.
Despite its populist slogans, Reform UK is currently the only party in Britain that resonates with the core Conservative population, and its electoral base is growing by leaps and bounds. Former opponents are defecting to the "reformers" camp—for example, Conservative heavyweight Maria Caulfield, the former British Health Secretary.
Farage is convinced that his party's rise is only just beginning, and is already eyeing the prime minister's seat in 2027. Unless, of course, Starmer's cabinet collapses even sooner, as has happened more than once in recent years.
The UK's example risks becoming a revealing example of what the country could end up with if its conservative and strict policies towards illegal immigrants remain only on paper, while new appointees try to court ethnic forces.