LETTER FROM LINCOLNSHIRE:Tensions over eastern European immigration are never far below the surface in one east-coast county
THE FIELDS between Wainfleet and Boston in Lincolnshire are open to the road, with not a ditch in sight. Even on a wet, miserable day, the spires of local churches can be seen in the far distance. And there is the overpowering, sickly smell of cabbages.
The cabbages occupy nearly every field. Much of the work of harvesting them is now done by immigrant labour, mostly eastern Europeans who have come since 2004 to this part of the east of England just a few miles from the North Sea. The experience has not been entirely happy for all sides.
Within months of their arrival, Boston’s name began to appear in the local and national British press with references to conflict, tension and confrontation.
Local employers say the eastern Europeans are vital, that their businesses could not operate without them and that young English people do not want work. Local workers, on the other hand, say jobs are fewer and wages have been pressed down.
Last week, immigration minister Damian Green won strong headlines after he claimed that British employers had become “addicted to immigration” and needed to make more effort to hire British workers.
“Like all addictions, it takes some time to wean people off but it’s good for you to be weaned off an addiction and it will be good for business in the long run if we have more of an instinct a British worker and, if necessary, let’s train a British worker,” he said.
However, though Green won praise from some quarters, he was not talking about European Union immigration, rather those who come from outside the EU. Visas in this instance are required and can, in theory, be limited and controlled.
Figures last August from the department of work and pensions recorded that 2,500 non-nationals registered for national insurance numbers in the borough of Boston in the year to March 2011 – the highest figure for nine years.
Figures are a problem in Boston, since the local borough council disagrees with the office of national statistics about the numbers living there. The statisticians say 61,000, the council believes the number is 14,000 higher.
Last autumn, local man Dean Everitt provoked a flurry after he decided to hold a protest march over the number of immigrants.
Even those who agreed with his view feared for the town’s reputation, particularly once the English Defence League started to show some interest.
Concerned, the home office sent officials to investigate local feelings. In time-honoured tradition, a taskforce was set up. Everitt was given a place at the table and it has begun slowly to swing into operation.
For now, Everitt is content: “It has got people on all sides talking seriously about all the issues around the influx of migrant workers and the impact this has had on Boston. This is real progress.
“I started out thinking that my council could do something about the number of new arrivals to the town from eastern Europe. But this issue is massive and far beyond the scope of a small market town and its council to deal with,” he said.
Evidence will be gathered this month, says local Labour borough councillor Paul Kenny, before proposals “aimed at creating harmony” follow later.
“It may seem as if these things are moving ahead slowly. They won’t be resolved overnight. But it’s better to work towards resolutions than do nothing at all,” he said.
Sometimes Lincolnshire locals and immigrant workers have the same issues, particularly 5,000 farm workers who fear pay cuts following the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board.
However, the tempers of locals are frequently aggravated.
Last year, it was revealed that a third of all those caught drink-driving in the county in 2010 were foreigners.
Immigration tensions partly – or largely – explain the UK Independence Party’s success in the east of England, depending on one’s view.
Last Sunday, one Ukip member, speaking in Skegness, complained that locally earned money quickly left: “You can’t get into the post office sometimes,” he said.
In November, a local judge said he was not surprised when it emerged in court that a Latvian axe murderer had been living in Boston unknown to the police until he killed a woman in a drunken car crash.
Police told Judge Sean Morris that they had no way of knowing that Intars Pless, who came to the UK in 2003 after he was released from prison, had killed a friend in a drunken quarrel in 1994.
His conviction emerged at Lincoln Crown Court when he was found guilty of killing moped rider 37-year-old Valentina Planciunene when he was twice the legal alcohol driving limit.
His victim, however, was not a Lincolnshire native, but rather a Belarussian who had made the journey to the region in search of a better life.
