Anti-Immigrant Sentiment in Hartlepool and Beyond
Like numerous cities across Britain that have been rocked by anti-immigrant riots in recent weeks, Hartlepool, a coastal town located in the northeast, has been working to recover from the severe industrial decline that began impacting the country in the 1980s. Despite some progress, the remnants of that decline remain palpable.
Disposable income in Hartlepool falls below the national average, and a significant portion of the population is out of the workforce, as highlighted by the Office for National Statistics. The town also faces challenges with fewer active businesses, lower healthy life expectancy, and a crime rate that is an alarming 89 percent higher than the national average.
In Britain, as well as across Europe and the United States, economic issues such as stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deteriorating public services have been closely associated with a rise in anti-immigrant sentiments. Although numerous studies indicate that immigration generally benefits economies, far-right political figures have skillfully leveraged these economic frustrations to galvanize their supporters and secure political influence.
Nigel Farage, the leader of the populist and anti-immigration party Reform, has often propagated misleading claims suggesting that refugees and migrants are draining public resources. He has notably remarked on the need for Britain to “build a house every two minutes” to accommodate legal migrants, while also expressing concerns about “those arriving on the back of lorries” who he claims seek to exploit welfare benefits.
Recently, Mr. Farage, who was elected to Parliament in July, contributed to a tapestry of misinformation that helped ignite the riots by inaccurately asserting that the individual responsible for fatally stabbing three young children at a dance class in Southport was an undocumented immigrant. Despite his inflammatory rhetoric, he later publicly denounced the violence.
