With hindsight and with a number of highly reliable studies published, it is abundantly clear that migration was the primary driver behind Brexit with loss of national sovereignty a distant second. These arguments could not be countered by the concerns highlighting the ‘economic risks brought by Brexit’. Albeit a strong argument, they were not strong enough to counter the migration argument or rather the anxieties felt by the vast majority of the British people, especially those who felt ‘left-behind’.

So why did the British vote to leave? Quite clearly those who felt ‘left-behind’ were not bothered by the economic risks brought about by Brexit. They were struggling for recognition. Some of them couldn’t care less because they felt they had nothing to loose. These anxieties did not arrive on the British isles the minute former PM David Cameron announced the Brexit referendum. This sentiment had been brewing for much, much longer, exacerbated by an economic crisis that led to pocket pinching austerity measures. Britain has traditionally been known for it’s welcoming approach for workers and students. London has been for quite a number of years  a magnet for highly qualified workers. 

The situation drastically changed when the financial/economic crisis in 2009 started to bite and thousands lost their job. A near collapse of a reckless banking system made spending tighter. A crisis that spilled over to the industrious North and Midlands that started shedding jobs because the manufacturing industry and related services decided to relocate elsewhere where labour was cheaper. What happened next was not entirely predictable but we would do well to learn the lessons as it can very well happen in Malta. 

Non-EU and EU labourers in Britain remained in Britain during and after the crisis. In part this was due to the readiness of migrants to do the odd jobs at very low wages, come what may. Moreover, lack of planning and investment in education during the growth years left Britain void of a talented pool of skills, be it professional or otherwise. The quick fix to this problem was an aggressive labour importation from around the world into every stratum and sector of the labour market; be it the top flying highly paid positions to the lowly paid menial jobs.  The British left out from eating their fair share could not compete with their foreign counterparts and remained on the dole. Hatred towards ‘the others’ increased drastically as the British found themselves unemployed while the foreigners were employed with highly competitive wages/conditions. To add insult to injury the establishment labelled these British as ‘bigots and racists’. Sounds familiar?

It is well and good for Malta to welcome foreign workers to Malta but this can only be done with proper planning and a careful consideration for labour rights of the Maltese. It is quite clear that Maltese employers need foreigners and the government is addressing this challenge by attracting foreign workers. This in itself is commendable but what will happen if economic growth slows down.

We were told that there are 40,000 foreigners working in Malta now and it seems that that figure is going to continue to rise in the short term but are we looking at the medium and long-term? What will happen if the economy shrinks and the number of jobs available on the island shrinks with it? Will Maltese be squeezed out of the labour market between the high-earners and the low-earners foreigners? Do we have a plan for this?

And in the here and now, where will these incoming people live? Will rent continue to rise? Is the infrastructure in place to accommodate the needs of more people? Are the services, ranging from welfare to health to social care to education, ready to cope with an ever growing influx?  In its last report the European Commission clearly says it is not. Where does that leave us in terms of the services we are getting today? 

Clyde Caruana, the Executive Chair of Jobsplus, said on TimesTalk that only last January 2018, there were 2,000 applications for single permits (work permits) from third-country nationals (non-EU). And this does not include the limbo state of affairs of illegal/irregular foreign workers working in villages across Malta and Gozo. No joke in real terms, this is equivalent to the total population of a medium sized village in Gozo. 

Migration in its different forms featured prominently in all the last general elections of European countries; be it Austria, Italy, France, the Netherlands, you name it. Malta’s economy has grown very fast and it is good that we are attracting foreigners but this does not come without risks. We can’t just dismiss these calls as racists because theirs is a legitimate call partly because it’s a threat to their already appallingly low-income and partly because they feel their national identity is being threatened. 

Progress yes, but not at any cost.