Viral migrant-bashing

I was contacted this week by someone who had had a nasty chain message about pensioners, migrants and the benefits system posted on his Facebook wall. This was a viral message which we have heard about before as it, or a version of it, has been circulating over the past few years. The text he received read like this:

Dear Prime Minister The RT. Hon. David Cameron, MP. 

I wish to ask you a Question:- "Is This True?". I refer to the Pension Reality Check. Are you aware of the following? 

The British Government provides the following financial assistance:-

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER
(bearing in mind they worked hard and paid their Income Tax and National Insurance contributions to the British Government all their working life) 
Weekly allowance: £106.00? 
IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN
(No Income Tax and National Insurance contribution whatsoever) 
Weekly allowance: £250.00 

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER
Weekly Spouse Allowance: £25.00? 
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN
Weekly Spouse Allowance: £225.00 

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER
Additional Weekly Hardship Allowance: £0.00? 
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN
Additional Weekly Hardship Allowance: £100.00 

A British old age pensioner is no less hard up than an illegal immigrant/refugee yet receives nothing

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER
TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT £6,000? 
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN
TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT: £29,900 

Please read all and then forward to all your contacts so that we can lobby for a decent state pension. After all, the average pensioner has paid taxes and contributed to the growth of this country for the last 40 to 60 years.  Sad isn't it? Surely it's about time we put our own people first.

Please share this, I JUST DID!

Familiar?

So how much of the information about migrants in this message is based on facts? Unsurprisingly, the answer is very little. Most migrants pay taxes if they are in employment like anyone else. Overall, analysis suggests that migrants make a small positive contribution to the UK economy and in particular to key growth sectors like healthcare, education, financial services and many more.

Refugees have the same right to access benefits and to work in the UK as a British citizen – no more and no less. Irregular migrants do not have the right to work in the UK and have no right to access benefits - but it is thought that many end up paying tax and NI as their ability to work depends on use of false National Insurance cards.

Both the ‘Weekly Spouse Allowance’ of £225 and the ‘Weekly Hardship Allowance’ that ‘illegal immigrants and refugees’ receive according to this email seem to be works of fiction.

Despite containing such confused information, this email, or a version of it, has been widely shared across the internet – so much so that it was the subject of a Parliamentary briefing paper in April this year. According to this, the email has a long and chequered history:

The House of Commons Library first became aware of the email in early 2010 but it has a much longer pedigree. It contains text from a protest email which has been circulating in Australia for some time now, but which may have originated in Canada. Versions also circulate in the United States, and elements even appear in protest emails as far afield as India. The UK version has been adapted, somewhat crudely, for a domestic audience by someone or some organisation unknown. The figures quoted bear no relation whatsoever to the situation in the United Kingdom.

Given this background, it seems that it is the sentiment behind the message that keeps it in circulation rather than accurate facts. This message pits one group experiencing hardship (pensioners) against another (refugees and migrants), suggesting that compassionate policies for these groups operate according to the rules of a zero sum game. As one benefits, the other suffers. True? No. But it seems to be intuitively persuasive, and especially at a time when austerity measures mean that there is a widespread sense of unfairness among people who are feeling the pinch of conracting state support. Pensioners are undoubtedly facing serious challenges at the moment, facing cuts to tax allowances and other benefits. It is right to raise awareness of their plight – but not at the expense of other vulnerable groups.

If you receive emails of this sort, please take the time to set the sender straight about some of the facts - and to point out that this approach will never have the effect of building compassion and understanding but instead encourages the opposite.