What are the Migration patternts to the UK in the last 50 years?

Answer 1

Answer:

Migration patterns to the UK in the last 50 years

On this page you will read about the Migration Patterns to the UK in the last fifty years (1946 to 2002) and the main reasons why this happen. Also on this page there is information about where the immigrants have come from and the result of this population increase.

Between 1946 to 1948, there was a population increase. This was because there was a very large amount of people brought into the UK, from the Poland (15700 Poles) and from Italy. This was because a large amount of workers were lost during the Second World War, and the country needed to be rebuilt. When the Poles and the Italians had settled into the UK there still was not enough people to rebuild the country and manufacture goods. The government then had to turn to the people in the West Indies, which originally they had been reluctant to allow into the country (mainly because of racial differences). In 1948 the ship "Empire Windrush" form the West Indies docked in London carrying hundreds of men.

Mass Immigration continued in the 1950s because people form the Empire and Commonwealth, had been granted an English passport to allow them into the country, but this was only if they had a work permit (permission to work) and proof that their parent or their grandparent had been born in the UK.

In 1972 the Government had greatly restricted immigration, but had not stopped it all together, 83,000 immigrants from the Commonwealth settled in the UK between 1968 and 1975, this was mostly through gaining work permits or obtaining permission to join relatives. Then in 1972 Ugandan dictator General Idi Amin expelled 80,000 African Asians from the country, and because many held British passports, and had relatives already living in the UK, they settle there. The government let in 28000 African Asians in two months.

In the 1980's the British Government had two policies, the first was that they became stricter on people entering the UK to migrate and the second was that they would protect the rights of ethnic minorities - this would mean that the Black and White people were treated as equals. While this was happening manufacturing declined, this then meant that work permits were harder to get unless you had a specific skill or trade (this was because they now did not need just anybody, it was a lot harder to get into the country). This then meant that there was a change in where the immigrants were coming from it was not now in Africa but now people from America (because of banking and industry), New Zealanders and South Africans making use of their family already in the UK, and South Asian men and women entering the medical professions.

In 1987 and 2002, the Black people that had migrated to the UK, were now seen as equals openly, this was displayed when four non-white politicians were elected in the same General Election, and now in the UK there are twelve non-white MP's. After this the barrier between races broke and there was a new type of people moving to UK, these were the people, who were fleeing political persecution, others seeking a better life in Western Europe. Between 1998 and 2000, some 45,000 people arrived from Africa, 22,700 from the Indian sub-continent, 25,000 from Asia and almost 12,000 from the Americas, 125,000 people were allowed to settle in the UK in 2000.

In conclusion, the amount of migration to the country has varied in the last fifty years and where the immigrants have come from has equally varied, due to a difference in circumstances, all of the immigrants all share the common aim, to find a better life in the UK and to get a better job.