I think Nigel Farage is playing the trick that I think he tries to play very regularly, which is he will say something that, technically he can say is not racist, but what he really knows is he's blown a very, very loud dog whistle to every racist in the country. That means he can always sort of claim plausible deniability and say: Well, you know, technically, my policy on ILR, for example, looking at indefinite need to remain for people who've been in this country for many years', he'll say: Well, that will apply to white people as well as non-white people'. Technically, that would be true, but he also knows he sent a very clear signal to every racist in the land that those who have made their homes in this country have come from other places, might one day have their status ripped off.
Foreign-born staff make up a vital share of our health service workforce. More than a third of doctors and one in five of all NHS workers were born overseas. These are not temporary contributors. They are long-term carers and specialists who have built their lives here and sustained our public health system through crisis after crisis. To deny them the right to settle is to destabilise the NHS.
