Ironically, although it gets 'forgotten' by our opponents, the reason there are so many Poles and other eastern Europeans in Britain is because we were far more open than the old core states when the eastern Europeans were allowed to join. All the existing states were given the right to restrict immigration from the new ones for a period and only Britain, of the large states anyway, didn't take up the option. Partly a traditionally more open attitude to migrants partly because it gave access to frequently skilled workers without needing the time and money to train up our own people. [Even Blair's new Labour was very much Thatcher lite in this and too many other respects. ] You then get the knock on effect that when some people find good jobs in Britain they form a focus for more migrants since the latter have friend/family/associates already in Britain so they don't find it too alien moving here. A bit like how large scale emigration to the US in the ~1860-1920 period saw huddles of Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians etc collecting in communities.
This has caused some hostility as it did in the US and other such cases but that has been vastly overblown by the people who want to present most/all Brits as raving racists and bigots to hide why so many people voted to leave the EU. [Partly a f**k you to the establishment which in both London and Brussels has been ignoring them for so long and partly because the EU isn't working for Britain with its different cultural background to the continent.]
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@minando
Ironically, although it gets 'forgotten' by our opponents, the reason there are so many Poles and other eastern Europeans in Britain is because we were far more open than the old core states when the eastern Europeans were allowed to join. All the existing states were given the right to restrict immigration from the new ones for a period and only Britain, of the large states anyway, didn't take up the option. Partly a traditionally more open attitude to migrants partly because it gave access to frequently skilled workers without needing the time and money to train up our own people. [Even Blair's new Labour was very much Thatcher lite in this and too many other respects.
This has caused some hostility as it did in the US and other such cases but that has been vastly overblown by the people who want to present most/all Brits as raving racists and bigots to hide why so many people voted to leave the EU. [Partly a f**k you to the establishment which in both London and Brussels has been ignoring them for so long and partly because the EU isn't working for Britain with its different cultural background to the continent.]