来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2023年2月6日
A sure sign of a happy country is the eagerness of foreigners to come to live there. One such state is Great Britain. Newcomers are a net benefit to a modern economy and should be welcomed accordingly.
幸福国家的一个明显标志是外国人渴望来到那里生活。英国就是这样一个国家。新移民是现代经济的净收益，因此应该受到欢迎。
Last year Britain’s ageing population was supplemented by a record net immigration of half a million people. After two years of pandemic retirements and EU departures under Brexit, this immigration came as a salvation to health and care employers, caterers, builders, hauliers and farmers. Yet these businesses are still desperate for more. In England, care is short of 165,000 workers and health needs 130,000, while half of UK building firms are short-staffed and a third of all UK firms say they lack a full complement of staff. Last month the chancellor duly issued a plea for 300,000 over-50s who had retired after lockdown to return to work to fill 1.19m vacancies. It was as if the nation faced defeat and was calling its veterans back into service.
去年，英国人口老龄化的同时，还有创纪录的50万净移民。在经历了两年的新冠大流行退休和英国脱欧导致的欧盟退出后，这些移民成为了医疗和护理雇主、餐饮商、建筑商、货运商和农场主的救星。然而，这些企业仍然迫切需要更多工人。在英格兰，护理部门缺少16.5万名员工，医疗部门需要13万名员工，而英国一半的建筑公司人手不足，三分之一的英国公司表示他们人手不足。上个月，财政大臣正式发出呼吁，要求30万50岁以上在疫情封锁后退休的人重返工作岗位，填补119万个职位空缺。就好像这个国家面临战败，正在召唤退伍军人重新服役。
Yet this same government is spending somewhere over £1bn a year billeting able-bodied Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians and Albanians in London hotels and elsewhere, paying them and their families pocket money on the strict condition they do no work. Should they sneak out to become hospital porters, road diggers, fruit pickers or care assistants, Suella Braverman’s Home Office will hunt them down and send them packing. Should they dare to wheel a trolley, deliver a pizza or handle a daffodil, Braverman will order them out. Whose side is she on?
然而，同样是这个政府，每年花费大约10亿英镑，将身体健全的阿富汗人、伊拉克人、叙利亚人和阿尔巴尼亚人安置在伦敦和其他地方的酒店里，并在要求他们不得工作的严格条件下，向他们及其家人支付零花钱。如果他们偷偷溜出去，成为医院的搬运工、挖路工、水果采摘工或护理助理，苏埃拉·布雷弗曼领导的内政部将会追捕他们，让他们打包走人。如果他们敢推手推车、送披萨或摆弄水仙花，布雷弗曼就会命令他们离开英国。她站在哪一边？
This policy is a mass of hypocrisy. Brexit stifled Britain’s supply of skilled and seasonal labour from eastern and southern Europe. Market forces responded by sucking in unprecedented numbers of non-European workers. Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, now finds himself stuck. He must promise to stifle immigration and yet somehow find more workers. To satisfy rightwingers, he has even suggested withdrawing from the European human rights convention to evict asylum seekers. Sunak is between a rock and a hard place.
这项政策是彻头彻尾的虚伪。英国退欧抑制了来自东欧和南欧的熟练和季节性劳动力的供应。作为回应，市场力量吸引了数量空前的非欧洲工人。首相里希·苏纳克现在发现自己陷入困境。他必须承诺遏制移民，同时以某种方式找到更多的工人。为了满足右翼分子，他甚至建议退出欧洲人权公约，驱逐寻求庇护者。苏纳克现在进退两难。
Every democracy, certainly in Europe, faces political tension over immigration. Germany has welcomed both Turks and Syrians against strong domestic opposition because it needed their labour. Britain is trapped in a regulatory morass of political asylum, refugee diplomacy, key-worker entitlement, people trafficking and enslavement. Tens of thousands of people who are eager to benefit the British economy are treated as if they were a semi-criminal class. British taxpayers are now paying them not to earn a living.
每个欧洲民主国家都在移民问题上面临政治紧张局势。德国不顾国内的强烈反对，对土耳其人和叙利亚人表示欢迎，因为德国需要他们的劳动力。英国陷入了政治庇护、难民外交、关键工人资格、人口贩卖和奴役的监管泥潭。成千上万渴望为英国经济谋利的人被当作半犯罪阶层对待。英国纳税人现在正在为这些移民不得谋生付出代价。
Despite appearances, public opinion is ambivalent. A recent YouGov poll showed a majority of Britons oppose “more immigration” yet also welcome it for specific jobs. These are across the board, from NHS staff to builders and farmers.
尽管表面上如此，公众的意见却是矛盾的。YouGov最近的一项民意调查显示，大多数英国人反对“更多移民”，但也欢迎某些特定工作的移民。这些劳动力需求遍及各个领域，从NHS员工到建筑商和农场主。
For the time being, Sunak should have the guts to tell Britons they have nothing to fear and much to gain from immigration. As for the newcomers themselves, he should welcome and thank them for coming.
目前，苏纳克应该有勇气告诉英国人，他们没有什么好害怕的，移民会给他们带来很多好处。至于新移民，苏纳克应该欢迎并感谢他们的到来。