With a month left to the EU Referendum, according to a report released this week by the British Election Survey, it has been revealed that Indian-origin voters are largely in favour of Britain remaining within the European Union (EU), with a significant chunk still undecided ahead of the June 23 referendum, which has been described as a knife-edge vote.
This comes right after British Asian MP Priti Patel, Prime Minister David Cameron's Indian diaspora champion and Infosys Chief Narayan Murthy's son-in-law Rishi Sunak have spoken out in favour of Brexit, while the 'Remain' camp lead by Tory MP Alok Sharma, Labour MPs Seema Malhotra and Rt Hon Keith Vaz continue to oppose it.
As per the latest report, 51.7% of Indian-origin voters were against Brexit, compared to 27.74% in favour of leaving the 28-member economic bloc. However there is a significant chunk of Indian origin (16.85%) voters who still aren't decided which way they will vote, who are potentially the deciding factor in this upcoming elections.
BES surveyed a large sample of 22,000 voters, which found that 'Remain' has a narrow lead of 43% as against 40.5% in favour of 'Leave'.
"The new data indicates that ethnic minority voters could hold the balance of power. While white voters are split evenly, all ethnic minority groups are far more likely to back Remain. However, the data also suggests that turnout could be 20 to 25% lower among ethnic minority voters," the report found.
The figures are similar across the board among South Asians, with Pakistani-origin voters backing remain 56 to 26% and Bangladeshis 42 to 17%.
Hugo Swire, Minister of State, FCO speaks out
Hugo Swire, the Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is about to make a trip to India on business again. Addressing the ethnic and Indian media he appealed to the 1.2mn Indian Diaspora to vote in favor of the UK staying in the EU on June 23, recalling Indian PM Modi's words- always referring UK to be 'the gateway' to EU for Indian trade and investment.
Dismissing the claim by Brexit camp that leaving EU will boost Indo-British trade relationship and also help Indian immigrants to come to the UK, Swire said, “There has been a creeping narrative promoted by the Brexitiers that somehow the Commonwealth can replace the EU as the UK's trading bloc partner. My argument is that it is an erroneous leap of faith to take.
"This is all based on imagination, rather than reality. Our membership of the EU does not prevent us from allowing people in from Commonwealth countries. It is not a binary decision, either EU or Commonwealth.”
He added that India remains as one of the biggest markets for UK visas, with around 455,000 non-settlement visas issued at the same time. “Over 60,000 work visas were issued to Indian nationals in the year ending March 2015, which makes up over a third of all work visas issued globally by the UK.
"So if you fulfill the criteria, you can come here with a work visa. Anyone suggesting that it would be any different or easier in case of Brexit, is suggesting we would water down that criteria. That's misleading and unhelpful...”
He urged British Asians to come forward and vote- explaining that if the diaspora thinks that the EU Referendum does not affect them- they are in the darkness. Every vote counts, and the Commonwealth vote as usual holds the great potential to tilt his country's fate.
The infamous 'Curry War'
On last week Wednesday Employment Minister Priti Patel, addressing how uncontrolled EU immigration harming the skilled curry industry said, “Uncontrolled immigration from the EU has led to tougher controls on migrants from the rest of the world.
"This means that we cannot bring in the talents and the skills we need to support our economy. By voting to leave we can take back control of our immigration policies, save our curry houses and join the rest of the world.”
She announced a “Save the British Curry Day” to take place in June, was backed by Enam Ali MBE, the founder of the British Curry Awards and Spice Magazine, and Pasha Khandaker, the president of the Bangladesh Caterers Association. Speaking to Asian Voice, a representative of the BCA said, “Priti's words have brought some hopes for us. It is wrong to believe that EU immigrants can replace our skills as chefs. The industry is suffering because of such presumptions. Many good restaurants have even shut down because of this. With Brexit, we will be able to bring in skilled workers from Bangladesh to fill in the gap. And that's a big relief.”
Tory MP Paul Scully, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for the British Curry Catering Industry, raised the issue in Parliament last year.
He added: “It cannot be right that skilled Bangladeshi chefs should be penalised.”
More than 20 MPs from Commonwealth backgrounds, or representing constituents from BME backgrounds, have also written an open letter calling for the UK to Leave the European Union. They argue that Britain’s Membership of the EU is a barrier to ties being strengthened with the Commonwealth and the rest of the world - and say that a Vote to Leave will allow us to adopt fairer trade and immigration policies. The cross-party group of signatories include Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, Gisela Stuart, Rishi Sunak and Iain Duncan Smith.
However Rt Hon Keith Vaz, MP and Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee attacked Priti's statement as misleading. He said, "I was furious to see Priti Patel claiming that leaving the EU and shutting the door on immigrants from Poland and elsewhere would save Britain's curry houses.
"This is divide and rule politics of the worst kind.
"The truth is that the stoking of anti-Eastern European sentiment is a new form of racism that is no less bad than that experienced by previous waves of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent.
"I will defend to the hilt the right of those who come here and contribute to our society, wherever they come from.
"Giving in to rhetoric that sets one community against another would be to take a step towards a less tolerant and more mean-spirited Britain.
"I agree with Priti that there is a crisis happening in our country's curry houses.
"It is deeply alarming that on average two are closing every week but this has nothing to do with the EU and everything to do the policies espoused by Priti Patel, who just happens to be an Employment Minister and the Government's "Diaspora Champion".
He emphasised the problem was the current visa scheme which set a salary threshold of £29,750 for chefs that made it hard for curry restaurants to recruit chefs from abroad.
"This could easily be solved in a stroke of Priti Patel's pen by lowering the minimum salary requirement for chefs, something I have campaigned for along with MPs from all parties.
"Priti Patel has failed to address this vital issue and is now conveniently using the EU as a scapegoat.
"She has chose to come to Leicester, a city that prides itself on its diversity, to lecture us on immigration.
"This is a place where communities from all around the world, whether they are Indians, Poles, Kurds or Slovaks, can rub shoulders and get along, as demonstrated by the quarter of a million people who turned out on Monday to celebrate Leicester City's Premier League victory.
"We should have no truck with those who try and divide our society and wreck our economy.
"My response to Priti Patel is clear - support our struggling curry houses, but don't blame migrants from elsewhere."
Seema Malhotra MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury said, “This Curry House con trick from Priti Patel demonstrates shocking hypocrisy.
“As a minister who attends Cabinet, it is within her power to influence Government policy in this area, but she would rather try to blame Europe for the Tories’ failure on immigration.
“Net migration from outside the EU has been well above the tens of thousands the entire time her Government has been in power, so leaving the EU would have no effect on the number of non-EU workers allowed into the country each year.
“Priti Patel has in fact praised the cap on non-EU workers in the past.
“People need to think carefully about what the impact of leaving will be on the British economy. With an estimated million lost jobs and our country being permanently worse off, that will mean fewer customers for curry houses and many other businesses. It's clearly a risk we should not take.”
