Immigration in the 1960's.

Where were the Immigrants mainly coming from? 

1. West Indies 
2. India and Pakistan
3. West Africa
4. Cyprus 
5. Others

Push factors

• Restrictions imposed on the US in 1952 led many to come to Britain. 
• Economic problems at home such as high unemployment. 

Pull factors

• There was a romantic and glamorised image of Britain from the people of the colonies. 
• Britain was seen as their "mother country." 
• Jobs were readily available in Britain. 
• The arrival of the ship "Empire Windrush" brought a new wave of afro-carribbean immigration into Britain. 

Arguments to restrict Immigration: 

• Overcrowding - Britain already had the highest population density in the world. 
• There would be trouble if the economy went back into recession due to the lack of jobs available - Voucher system (proposed by the Immigration Act of 1962) could regulate the inflow of people to match job vacancies. 
• There were growing tensions between the white and black immigrants, so restricting immigration could prevent the situation from growing worse. (Riots did actually start between young white males and black residents in places such as Notting Hill, Nottingham and poorer areas of London.The Salmon report gave a few reasons for the underlying reasons for the break out such as: the anger that the blacks were working for low wages, bitterness at the rise of rents - which was blamed on the blacks - and the “teddy boys” playing local heroes by using violence to reduce the number of black residents.) 
• Immigrants would only settle in certain towns and large cities as a group which caused even more overcrowding - government had to move them but then the Immigrants were accused of being "queue jumping" council house waiting lists, creating more tension. This also did not help the immigrants to mingle with the white people. 
• Immigrants claimed to be making unreasonable demands on the welfare state and made no contribution to the welfare funds. 
• People argued that there was no need to introduce racial problems to Britain as people were already and always will be prejudiced, so Immigration should be restricted. 
• Commonwealth was part of Britain's past therefore Britain should be concentrating on building a relationship between the US and countries around Europe instead of pleasing the people of the Commonwealth. 

Arguments in favour of Immigration: 

• Free entry had not produced the problem of overcrowding in the past, so will not pose a problem now. 
• Relationship between jobs and availability of jobs was self regulating - if the number of jobs available falls, then the number of immigrants coming to Britain will fall too and vice versa. 
• Social tensions were not excessive - the government should punish the wrongdoers individually. 
• There was no evidence that the immigrants were making no contributions to the welfare state or making unreasonable demands - in fact they were helping to run the national services and even made a massive contribution to the Second World War, which some people were quick to forget.  
• The immigrants scarcely complained about where they lived - the solution to overcrowding was to build more and better housing. 
• People would grow out of being prejudiced in time - they should be encouraged to be friendly with the Immigrants and allow multi-cultural societies to be welcomed in Britain. 
• Should not hinder the relationship with the Commonwealth as they were clearly still loyal to Britain.