How does Modern Britain Continue to be Affected by the End of its Empire?
The British empire leaves a strong mark on the present-day world. Fourteen UK Overseas Territories remain, and the last handover that signaled the end of the British empire dates only 1997, less than thirty years ago. And the impacts of colonization are numerous, whether it be political discourse (e.g. Hong Kong, India, Pakistan), environmental degradation (e.g. South Africa, New Zealand) (Varanasi, 2022), as well as one of the main salient issues of the upcoming UK general election: migration. In the year to June 2023, the UK migration figure was 672,000. Most of these recent immigrants came from Ukraine, Hong Kong, and Afghanistan. Hong Kong was, of course, a well-known British colony and Afghanistan, while never fully colonized, was a British protectorate due to the Treaty of Gandamak, 1879 (Jazib, 2023). It’s no coincidence that these people tend to choose to move to Britain over other countries.
With the Rwanda Plan dominating news stories (Conservative, 2023), the topic of migration is on everyone’s minds. Refugees seem to be willing to risk their lives on small boats to cross the English Channel, even when they have already arrived in a safe country such as France for asylum (Wies, 2022). Many people are unable to understand what makes Britain so uniquely attractive to migrants and refugees across the world.
Britain, of course, has all the ordinary pull factors of a developed western democracy—freedom of speech, job opportunities, a stable economy, etc. —but it also has cultural ties and links to many countries across the world due to its former empire. One way this shows is through British sports such as cricket, rugby, and tennis, now played across the world. Language is another obvious example. English is spoken by 1.35 billion people across the world and recognized as an official language in 67 different countries. Immigrants will naturally put their fluency in the language into consideration before selecting a place to move to, rather than having to go through the process of learning a whole new language. Thus, makes Britain a much more attractive place to relocate to.
Another pull factor is the UK’s education system, which many countries are heavily influenced by. Some countries have kept their education systems from their colonial past, and even to those who have made changes, the impact is still obvious. iGCSEs are used in international schools across the world, and especially in former colonies such as Singapore and Malaysia, and Hong Kong had the HKCEE and HKALE from 1974 to 2012, equivalent to GSCEs and A-Levels, respectively. A similarity in curriculum for youngsters is attractive to those with children, which makes up 40% of all forcibly displaced people (UNHCR, 2023) and 13% of all migrants in 2020 (Migration Data Portal, 2024). The idea of a similar educational system to the one they were used to means easier adjustment once they have arrived. Because of the British empire, British influences have crept into all parts of people’s lives, and this causes a sense of “closeness” to many people in these former colonies towards the country.
In areas of current political turbulence, their colonial past sometimes becomes something seen positively by their inhabitants. A recent example comes in the form of Hong Kong. Some groups in these former colonies see themselves as more “British” than their original country (Russolillo, Page, 2019) and thus, with the British no longer being in power in their respective states, decide to move to the country directly instead. People see Britain as their true home. About half of non-EU migrants come due to family members who have already relocated and believe they will be easily able to adjust once they had arrived due to historical ties. It is also far more likely for special migration schemes to be set up between the UK and its former colonies. Hong Kong had the BNO scheme, attracting more than 120,000 citizens to move to the UK; and there are two schemes for the evacuation of Afghan immigrants under the Taliban regime, with 12,300 people being granted indefinite leave as of November 2022 (Gov UK, 2024).
Impacts from the British empire are not only recent. The British empire also historically led to a high number of immigrants from its former colonies in Africa. The first permanent British settlement in Africa dated 1661, and by the 1760s, 20,000 Black people lived in Britain, with three fourth of those in London (Spelthorne, 2023). Due to the British empire, men from colonies, especially those in Africa and India, were often enlisted into the army, whether for the Napoleonic War or, later, World War One and Two. Most faced horrible treatment upon their arrival in the UK after the wars. They faced constant racism, systematic discrimination and were at constant risk of deportation. The British Nationality Act 1948 recognized UK citizenship to all those living in British colonies, the most famous of which were the Windrush Generation, but people still faced prejudice and racism after arrival. Still, as of the 2021 census, 4% of the British population is of Black, Black British, Caribbean, or African heritage.
The UK’s colonial history has led to a high rate of migration into the country, causing problems in England, especially in recent years. The Conservative government has declared that the current “level of migration is not sustainable” (Home Office, 2024). Those against migration claim that there is too much pressure on public services that are already overly stretched out, with nearly 700,000 new GP registrations by migrants in the 2019-20 period (Green, 2020). Demand for homes has also increased rapidly. In April 2023, a survey revealed that 52% of the UK population believed that immigration numbers should be decreased (Migration Observatory, 2023).
Yet there are those who believe the UK has the duty and obligation to take in these immigrants. The simplest way to sum this up is through A. Sivanandan’s aphorism: “we are here because you were there” (Younge, 2018). The argument is that immigrants should be allowed to continue arriving on UK shores because white colonizers had arrived on their land years ago and destroyed their way of living. The UK has a moral obligation to accept immigrants, even if the numbers are, in the current Conservative government’s eyes, too high to be sustainable. Their actions under the British empire makes them responsible for the wellbeing of those who lived on the land they colonized. Suketu Mehta argues that, due to colonization, an Indian immigrant is entitled to living and working in the UK as repayment for the damage that the British empire had wrought on their homeland, thus leaving to worse-off living conditions even years later (Mehta, 2019). Thus, immigrants should be allowed in through the borders no matter the consequences. This is what Britain owes to their former colonies and the people who suffered under imperialism.
Historically speaking, such “reparations” have existed. The German reparations for the Holocaust, for example, cost them $89 billion dollars, $7 billion of which went to Israel (Jain, 2019). The US has also paid reparations to Japanese Americans wrongfully placed under internment during World War 2. Reparations have existed in Britain as well, though rather ironically, while reparations (£20 million) regarding British slave-ownership were paid to former slave-owners rather than the slaves themselves. Therefore, some believe that the UK’s current high migration count is a form of non-monetary reparation to those affected and hurt by the British empire. The UK cannot close their borders because it is what they owe to their former colonies. They took away their chances for a better life in the past, and now they must return it to those people’s descendants.
Of course, this is a controversial argument. Can we truly hold the current modern-day British government and people accountable for their ancestors’ actions? If the consequence is allowing limitless immigration, leading to potential shutdowns of current UK public services, some firmly argue that the UK ought not keep its borders remaining open, and that there should be a heavy crackdown on anyone arriving in the UK through illegal means. They argue that the current UK government does not need to repent for the deeds of their ancestors and should put the needs of their own people first.
For most people, it is a question without a proper answer. Is it worth it to potentially sacrifice the wellbeing of the British people for immigrants? But I have always been firm in my belief that the UK is in fact obligated to receive these immigrants, especially those from their former colonies. Many of these migrants leave their own country in search of a better life, and they see it in the UK. And it is often because the UK has gone out of its way to show them that a better life exists and is also responsible for having taken away their chance of a good life in their own countries.
Local development in Africa was stunted, practically stopped, because of colonization. African culture was suppressed by British colonizers, sometimes even completely erased so that the native Africans could be portrayed as sub-human (Van der Puye, 2010). Colonialism disrupted the original political organization that had already existed in most parts of the African continent. Some observe and conclude that colonialism helped integrate the continent into modernity faster (Heldring, 2013), but at what cost? And there is no evidence to suggest that the native Africans would have been unable to make those developments by themselves, especially with trade expansion around the world. The argument is flimsy and disrespectful to the culture that had already existed in those parts of the world that were colonized. It perpetuates the outdated colonial idea that colonialism was the “spreading of civilization and culture” into Asia and Africa, that Europeans were the most civilized and thus superior to other races, when ancient civilizations like China, Egypt and the Indus Valley existed and thrived long before Europeans had ever stepped foot onto either continent.
The reason so many of these places have struggled so much in their process of development and modernization due to the British empire. People in these countries have been deprived of the life they might have lived if the British had never pillaged their resources and destroyed the civilization and society they had already built up. British governments should never seek to make it more difficult to allow immigrants to enter the country, because they are often the reason behind the push factors for migrants from their own homes. Actions have consequences, and the UK should not try to avoid them.
Current high migration levels in the UK are heavily due to the former British empire. The British empire serves as both a push and pull factor for migrants who come in search of a better life, one that they were often offered tantalizing glimpses of when they were under colonization. Those who lived in former colonies fought in Britain’s wars and contributed to the British economy, so why should they be deprived of the right to move to the UK when they wish to? The British historically made homes in their countries uninvited, so why can't they now not “return the favour”? Through colonization, through the British empire, UK culture was spread around the world while the cultures of natives were suppressed, destroyed, and erased. It is hardly surprising that many people would thus wish to move to the country whose culture has been forced and indoctrinated into their own societies, becoming a part of their day-to-day life. Actions have consequences. And migration now is the consequence for imperialism and colonization. It is disrespectful to those whose lives were destroyed by the British empire to be denied the opportunity to choose a better, new life in a country once responsible for taking away everything from them.
by Yim Hoi Lam, Brighton College