World City

I am an economic migrant. There, I said it. I feel better now. I suppose its wise to confess before you discuss such matters.

In the place where I was born, jobs were scarce, life was violent and crime ridden, and the police haunted by persistent accusations of corruption. OK, life wasn't all bad in North Yorkshire, but the lights of the big city attracted me, so down I came and found a job.

Like millions around the world (billions even, really, considering that the majority of the worlds population now lives in cities) I followed the dictates of the labour market, and moved down to London.

That all the mainstream mayoral candidates want an amnesty for illegal immigrants shows that they understand the motor forces in this neck of the woods (especially as for Tory boy, this means running against the instincts of the Shire backbone of the party, but then, their leader says: "Boris is his own man. He is standing on his own platform and he dictates his own policies." So much for being a united political party, your mayoral candidate gets to choose his own policies).

Socialists are clear that we hold no brief for national boundaries, and see no difference in principle between people like myself, or migrants from France or Nigeria. We are all workers. We look forward to the day when there are no boundaries, no illegal immigrants to give amnesties to (apparently about 380,000 in London at the minute), and we travel the world because its ours and we want to share in it, not because of the dictates of an inhuman labour market.