This union notes: The Queens speech in May 2013 announced a series of attacks on immigrants rights that the

e Tory-Lib Dem coalition wants to push through, including proposals to have landlords and employers check the immigration status of tenants and employees, and a clampdown on access to the NHS. This follows David Camerons speech on 25 March 2013 in which he promised to curtail access to public services for immigrants and to reduce net migration to Britain. The prospect of the lifting of restrictions on the employment rights of people from the A2 countriesBulgaria and Romaniain January 2014 is being met by anti-immigrant rhetoric from politicians and the right-wing press. The rise of UKIP, who came second in the recent Eastleigh by-election, taking 27.8 percent of the vote, and who took around a quarter of the vote in county council seats that they contested in May 2013, on the back of an antiimmigrant election campaign. That Labour leader Ed Miliband and shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper responded to the Eastleigh result by promising that Labour would be harsher on immigrants, with Cooper threatening to restrict access to benefits for those arriving from A2 countries. That, contrary to claims in the media, only 1.8 percent of social housing is occupied by those who have been in Britain less than five years; immigrants do much to sustain services such as the NHS, rather than being a drain on its resources; those born overseas are net contributors to the welfare state.

This union believes: The economic crisis is the fault of bankers, politicians and bosses, not of immigrants. As the Mirror wrote in its editorial in response to Camerons speech: Austerity, not migration, is why living standards and real wages are falling. Pandering to anti-immigrant rhetoric moves the political agenda to the right, giving confidence to racists, and helping to legitimise the views of far-right groups such as the British National Party and English Defence League. It also helps to further fuel the growth of UKIP. Racism against immigrants, including refugees and people seeking asylum, divides workers, hampering struggles to defend wages and conditions.

This union resolves: To produce educational material for members exposing right-wing myths about immigration. To campaign to defend immigrants and asylum seekers, and to encourage them to join trade unions.

To reject divisive slogans such as British jobs for British workers that undermine unified struggles for workers rights. To support broad-based organisations campaigning against racism and scapegoating of immigrants.