A new campaign is being launched to show migrants’ contribution to UK society in the run-up to this year’s general election.
The group Movement Against Xenophobia (MAX) is aiming to raise £44,000 to create a series of posters showing individual immigrants and pointing out what they have done for Britain. A mock-up of one of the posters shows a man and the caption: “I am an immigrant. I am a brain surgeon. I have saved 2,000 lives.”
MAX is working with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), which said the idea was to show the important role ordinary people who have moved to the country on UK visas have in “the fabric of British society”.
The group said it was concerned the main political parties will take an even harder stance on the immigration issue ahead of the general election in May.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the Conservative party has been responsible for “the toughest possible welfare reforms” targeting migrants from overseas and claimed that the UK would be a “better, stronger” country if immigration was reduced.
The Labour party is also talking tough on UK immigration and has pledged to enact its own reforms to reduce migrant numbers if it is elected.
The MAX campaign wants to show people the other side of the story and said its posters would be displayed in railway stations around the country and in the London Underground. It is aiming to reach around seven million people with the message of the positive aspects that immigration brings to Britain on a daily basis.