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For the past few years, I have felt an uneasy rise in anti-immigrant and asylum seeker sentiment. This sentiment has been around for longer than we think, stemming from the days of Brexit, but recently it has crossed into more dangerous territory of outward racism. We have now lived through two summers where immigration has been top of the news agenda, with the misinformation of the killings in Southport leading to riots and the a growing rise of English Flags being put up this summer, many under the guise of patriotism. We have also seen the rapid rise of Nigel Farage, from Brexit lunatic to now leader of Reform UK, which is fast replacing the Conservatives as a credible opposition and a threat to the current state of party politics today.
Increasing Polarisation:
As a British Asian woman, this growing rise has not surprised me too deeply. With Trump winning the 2024 election and the rise of the far-right politics in the mainstream, such as Brexit, I had always sadly been used to far-right and anti-immigration sentiment. An incident in September 2025 gravelly unsettled me and created a stark reminder of the extent of what is happening in society today. A Sikh woman in Oldbury, walking at 08.30 in the morning in broad daylight by a main road, was raped by two men. An incident like this being on national news mirrors the 1960s, the heyday of racism in Britain, and was now happening in current times.
Racist rhetoric has been packaged as many different things in British politics by the far-right. But we have seen an increase of it becoming more outward, and normalised. Robert Jenrick, a senior Tory MP recently stated that he was concerned that he could see no white people in Handsworth, a neighbourhood in Birmingham. Instead of being condemned by his party leader, he was defended, saying he was merely making an ‘observation’. Worryingly, Jenrick’s seems to have been topped by Reform MP Sarah Pochin, Since she joined the party she has made herself very well known, using her first PMQs to ask Starmer if he will ban burqas, and most recently saying on TV that she is sick of seeing black and Asian people in adverts on TV all the time. We are seeing a mainstream rise of normalising racism, comments that seem to be pushing the boundaries more and more. Even Labour has been criticised for referencing racist rhetoric, such as Keir Starmer inadvertently mirroring dialogue from Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech
This isn’t just happening in politics; it is also happening in other areas of British life. According to the Royal College of Nursing, Racism against nurses in the UK has increased by 55% and research saying that UK businesses are restricting DEI schemes, due to Trump’s criticism of them in the US. Trump and the rise of far-right rhetoric in America have also fostered a rise of anti-immigration sentiment in the US, a country that is seen to have a ‘special relationship’ with us
The dangerous consequences?
Racism is on the rise in Britian, and it is being perpetuated by British Politics. We all need to be much more concerned about this, concerned about the rise of Reform UK and the rise of the far-right .
For many anti–immigration and anti-asylum seekers, their argument is based on the idea that these demographics are causing many problems in this country. Actual statistics show a different story: last year there were 515,700 refugees in the country, according to the UNCHR. Most of these asylum seekers cannot work and rely on what is equivalent to 7 pound a day to live on from the government. Immigrants benefit the economy greatly, and statistically contribute more to public finances than someone born in this country, because their education and services weren’t paid for them as a child by the UK. In the last census, the high level ‘white’ ethnic category was recorded by 81.7% of the population –a significant majority.
What should we do next?
Immigration, much to the dismay of the far-right has never actually been the bane of our problems in Britain. But it is an effective fearmongering tactic, and for many politicians, an easy target.
The people listening to Reform, who are supporting far–right politics, aren’t the cause of the rise in discrimination/racism. It’s the politicians who push this agenda, who tell us that immigrants are “taking our jobs” and that asylum seekers are a threat to our country. We are seeing a normalisation of racism, something we haven’t seen in decades. To stop it, we must fight back and remind everyone that diversity and inclusivity has never been the problem – it’s the politicians who are telling you it is.
Edited By: Evangeline Shankland
Image Reference: Around anti-racism protesters in London, Henry Be // CC0 1.0
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