by Laurie Wastell, The Critic
The crises of multicultural Britain are worsening — and more demographic change will exacerbate them
The topic that everyone is afraid to talk about has broken into the national conversation. A new report by professor Matt Goodwin of the University of Buckingham finds that on current trends, the UK’s white British population is set to become a minority in Britain by 2063. How Goodwin comes by this projection, and the precise date this might happen, are not really the issue here; 15 years ago Britain was likewise projected to become the “majority-minority” by 2066. Rather, the real question is whether such a future, whenever it might take place, is seen as a problem. And is it a problem anyone is willing to talk about?
One of those to attempt to put this issue on the map in recent years has been GB News’s Steven Edginton, putting the question of Britain’s declining native majority to several prominent right-wing politicians, including Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Liz Truss, and Nigel Farage. In those exchanges, all of them felt the need to deny that this is a concern, instead appealing to some form of colourblindness. Following Goodwin’s report, it was Richard Tice’s turn to be grilled, and he again sought to downplay the issue, before scolding Edginton for being “obsessed with this stuff”. 2063 is “a long way off”, said the 60-year-old — by then he’ll “be long gone”.
Perhaps these politicians really are indifferent to such a future — though if so, that puts them out of step with the public, who mostly commonly reported being “uneasy”, “unhappy” and “disappointed” at the prospect in a 2018 poll. Still, one suspects that lurking close behind the unwillingness to grasp this particular nettle is the sense that it might be considered déclassé, or worse, “racist” to do so. It is strange, given that countries like Denmark, Singapore and Israel take the question of their demographic policy seriously, that mainstream British conservatives apparently feel unable to express any opinion on such a major issue.