Sky News recently conducted a review of how Swindon residents feels about the the growing number of migrants settling in their towns. According to the data, in 2021 47,656 of Swindon’s residents were born outside of the UK compared to 182,215 British-born residents. Whilst that doesn’t necessarily sound like a staggering proportion of the population, the number of migrants has grown rapidly, from just 26,911 in 2011.

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In 1841, the Great Western Railway transformed and industrialised Swindon, turning it into a town heaving with work-opportunities. Brits and migrants alike have since flocked there for work. However in a recent series of short interviews conducted by sky, residents had varying opinions on the contribution of migrants to the workforce. 

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Barber shop-owner Asher Graham, said of the growing migrant population "The town's getting multicultural and that's good. That's what we need and like… everyone's just getting to work."

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Another businessman Jamie Carash, described feeling like ‘an outsider in [his] own country. Despite this he went on to detail how he had employed two migrants at his business and stated that ‘their work ethic is better than most of his employees from non-immigrant backgrounds, who he referred to as ‘his guys’.

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Another resident, Christine, added that there is a ‘need’ for ‘people from around the world to help with certain jobs’, such as ‘farming’. 

Although both Christine and Carash did not deny that hard-working migrants contributed to the British workforce, it would be hard for an individual from a minority-background to watch the series of interviews without being reminded of many of the common tropes of xenophobia.

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The most controversial opinion came from  Swindon resident and convicted pedipjike Jason Oldacre. 54 year-old Oldacre blamed the addition of migrants to the British workforce for his inability to find work. In his own spin of ‘they’re stealing all our jobs’, Oldacre stated ‘I can’t get a job. They come to this country and they can get a job just like that’. Oldacre went on to confirm he blamed immigrants for him not being able to get a job ‘rather than [his] criminal record’. When questioned about his convictions Oldacre only stated ‘assault’, but failed to mention his history of sexual deviancy and his conviction for molesting a 7 year-old girl. 

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We can’t imagine that anything could damage a person's career opportunities more than the very public and vile nature of Oldacres' crimes. We can’t blame migrant workers for everything? 

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But unlike Oldacre, numbers don’t lie, 82% of migrant men are employed compared to 78% of their British-born counterparts. The age-old divide remains in British public opinion, some view migrant workers as a necessary addition to the British workforce and economy whilst others view them as stealing jobs that British-born workers are entitled to.

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