Migration – 20th and 21st centuries
Between 1901 and 1910, English migration into Wales continued due to industries like coal mining attracting workers. However, people began to be concerned by the supposed economic effects of continued immigration, especially from eastern Europe.
In 1905, the Aliens Act was passed, which for the first time placed restrictions on immigration. This was passed partly because of growing Hostility or prejudice against Jews. against the mostly Jewish immigrants. By the 1930s, the hardships of the Depression in Wales reversed the previous trend of economic migration, and saw many Welsh people leave for factory and service work in places like Oxford, Coventry and London.
After the Second World War, labour shortages led to the 1948 British Nationality Act, which encouraged Commonwealth immigration to Britain. Many West Indians, Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis would come to the UK over the next few decades, seeking a better future in what they had thought of as their ‘motherland’. This had a substantial impact on British society and Ideas, customs and social behaviour of a society., most obviously in areas such as food, and the growth of a more multicultural society. The same process worked in reverse in the 1950s and 1960s, as Australia’s growing economy demanded more skilled workers and many Britons emigrated there.
Attitudes to immigration were mixed, and there was a negative reaction in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. Governments passed laws like the 1968 Commonwealth Immigrants Act and the 1971 Immigration Act to further restrict immigration from former colonies, and some of the reaction to immigrants could be extreme and racist.
However, Britain’s membership of the A group of European countries initially formed to remove trade barriers and reduce potential for war within Europe. Citizens of member states have the right to move freely to any other member state to work. and the continued growth of cheaper air travel meant that by the end of the 20th century, EU migration to the UK was increasing. As well as economic migration, Britain has continued to take in refugees from conflicts around the world in places such as Somalia and Iraq. Emigration also continues, and the number of British people living overseas today is estimated to be at least 5 million.
