Was the hostile environment created by Labour?

The Labour Home Secretary invented all the information about the hostile environment.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove claimed in the House of Commons on Monday that the “hostile environment” approach to immigration rules was “invented under a Labour Home Secretary”. After announcing a new humanitarian plan for Ukrainian refugees, he made this comment. 

The term “hostile environment” refers to Comprehensive immigration policiesThe law covers areas such as housing, education, healthcare, and employment. It was designed to deter illegal migrants from settling in Britain and counter any criminality related to illegal migration. 

Mr Gove’s claim gained significant attention on news websites and social media, with some commentators—such as lawyer and campaigner Peter StefanovicNew Statesman writer Jonn Elledge—claiming it was untrue. 

Labour did use the term ‘hostile environment’ while in government 

The term “hostile environment” has been used in different contexts over the years. The Home Office used it to denote “hostile environment” in the past. Dangerous locations abroad, and in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, was used to describe the government’s desire to make the UK a Terrorists thrive in hostile environments. 

More recently though, it has been used to describe policies aimed at making the UK a hostile environment for immigrants who have settled in the country without the right to remain.Here’s what we found when we looked for examples of the phrase being used under Labour:

• It was first used by Liam Byrne, then-immigration minister. Announcement of a policy fining firms up to £10,000 for employing people without the right to work in the UK, Mr Byrne said: “We are trying to create a much more hostile environment in this country if you are here illegally.”
• It was used in a Home Office strategy paper repeatedly in February 2010.The UK Border Agency, part of the Home Office, published its five-year strategy for “enforcing our immigration rules and addressing immigration and cross border crime”, with a foreword by then-immigration minister Phil Woolas. The document includes the phrase “hostile environment” four times, focussing broadly on reducing immigration-related crime. For example, it says: “This strategy sets out how we will continue our efforts to cut crime and make the UK a hostile environment for those that seek to break our laws or abuse our hospitality.”Asked about the use of the words “hostile environment” in this document in a 2018 interview, Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry Answered: “The words are used but the culture was not.”
• There are claims Alan Johnson used the term while Home Secretary—though we’ve not been able to find a specific example.In May June 2018, the Conservative peer Baroness Williams of Trafford claimed that former Labour MP Alan Johnson used the term “hostile environment” while Home Secretary (a position he held between 2009 and 2010). Although we could not find any specific instance of Johnson using the phrase, he was Home Secretary at the time the Border Force report was published and in an Interview with Andrew Neil in 2018. said he couldn’t remember everything he had said, when asked if he’d used the term. In the interview with Mr Robinson mentioned above, Ms Thorberry said “Alan Johnson first used it [the term ‘hostile environment’] in a speech”.
• 2009 saw the term used by a Labour peer, but only in relation to people-trafficking. Lord Brett said: “My Lords, we continue to make the UK a hostile environment for trafficking and to ensure that victims are protected.” 

Asked for comment about Mr Gove’s claim, his department, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, sent Full Fact four links, relating to Ms Thornberry’s comments on the Border Force report, Baroness Williams’ two claims that Alan Johnson had used the term and Lord Brett’s comment. We also contacted Conservative Campaign Headquarters and the Labour Party to ask about Mr Gove’s claim, but did not receive a response from either.

Theresa May developed numerous policies to protect the environment from hostile elements. 

While the term “hostile environment” was used in relation to enforcing immigration rules under the Labour government, the scope of policies associated with the term were significantly expanded under the Conservatives. Theresa May, as Home Secretary, openly stated her desire to create a hostile environment. Significant legislative changes were made that made it harder for undocumented migrants remain in the UK. 

In Interview with the Telegraph 2012, Mrs May said: “The aim is to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration.”

The article goes on to state: “Work is under way to deny illegal immigrants access to work, housing and services, even bank accounts.”

In 2012 – A new ministerial committee named the Hostile Environment Working Group (later renamed the Inter-Ministerial Group on Migrants’ Access to Benefits and Public Services) was set up, including 12 government departments. The group was responsible for drawing up proposals which would limit illegal migrants’ access to employment, benefits and public and private sector services such as education and banking, and restrict rights of appeal against Home Office immigration decisions. 

Most of the group’s proposals became lawThe 2014 Immigration Act. 

This legislation required private landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants, introduced new powers to check driving licence applicants’ immigration status and prohibited banks from opening current accounts for migrants identified as being in the UK unlawfully. 

This was followed by the 2016 Immigration ActWhich, A House of Lords Library briefing about the hostile environment sets out, built upon the powers of the 2014 act and reinforced measures related to “illegal working”. These included stronger criminal penalties to discourage illegal working and the legal authority for a variety of public bodies (such a local council and the NHS), to supply nationality papers to immigration officers. 

The hostile environment policies eventually became synonymous with images of vehicles known as “go home vans”, which were driven around six London boroughs in 2013 and warned people who were in the UK illegally to “go home or face arrest”. 

These laws were the center of renewed national attention after the 2017 saw the emergence of the Windrush scandalIt was reported that many citizens with legal rights to reside in the UK were threatened with detention, deportation, demands for healthcare, and difficulties accessing employment because they couldn’t prove their legal status. In 2018, the then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid revealedIt is possible that 63 members in the Windrush generation could have been wrongly expelled from Britain.

2018 Mr Javid Declared that he would not use the phrase “hostile environment”, which he described as “unhelpful”, and said a better term would be “compliant environment” .

Photos courtesy catch21productions/Raul Meevia Flickr