Racism: the ebola of our national politics

 

As pressure mounts on David Cameron’s Conservatives and Labour’s Ed Miliband to respond to the Ukip threat by ever more restrictive action on immigration, we should stop and think about the implications.

 

I personally, as a longstanding Conservative, am uneasy in a party which is increasingly pushed to the right on immigration merely to respond to the Ukip threat. Immigration has historically been good for our economy and made London in particular the thriving world leader of a city that it is. Ukip has contaminated British politics with the virus of racism; we should be seeking to cure it, not spread it. Racism is the ebola of our national political dialogue.