The Politics of Immigration since 1945

Abstract

The story of the politics of migration from the nineteenth century onwards that we have told in the previous chapter has shown us that migration and race were contested issues long before the arrival of large numbers of black colonial migrants in the period since 1945. From the response to Irish, Jewish and early black migration we have seen that the response of political institutions to the arrival of these groups was complex and not uniform. The response to Irish migration, despite a degree of opposition and violent confrontations was markedly different from the attempts to exclude and control Jewish and black migrants. There was also a more limited political mobilisation in defence of the interests of these groups.