The history of these islands is one of wave after wave of migration
On Thursday 23 June, we all get the chance to have our say on our membership of the European Union. It will be one of the most important things any of us have taken part in because the decision will have a real effect, both short term and long term. The long-term argument is probably the most important consideration because it’s about the lives of the people most important to us: our children, our grandchildren and their children.
There are three different areas to consider. Firstly, immigration. Secondly prosperity and finally, our security as an island nation.
Regarding immigration, Tony Wilson once said that Manchester is a city of immigrants. Our Editor-at-Large, Jonathan Schofield, would be much better at the precise facts, but the reality is that that a couple of centuries ago saw the beginning of the Industrial Revolution a few miles from Deansgate in Manchester. It could only have got under way here with the support of mass migration from farms across the UK and impoverished and persecuted migrants from across Europe who helped turn the whole North West of England into a prosperous commercial powerhouse which showed the world how a people of many colours, creeds and races could come together, stand up straight and produce prosperity never seen before anywhere in the history of the world.
And, in the end, we all learned to live together.
I stand up straight every day, proud of the mixture that is in my gene pool, which includes an iron-hard Irish matriarch, one of my great-great grandmothers. She bundled up the whole family and put them on the boat from Dublin to Boston in the late 1800’s. Seeing a sign in a hotel window which read ‘No Blacks, Dogs or Irish” she got all thirty three of them back on a boat within two weeks to Liverpool and settled them in Manchester. A bit of Welsh got in the mix along the way, as well as a White Russian, who seems to have got lost but fancied one of my great grandmas and stayed.
Over the years, my family, who were to become butchers, bakers, fishmongers and cotton ‘barons’ have contributed to the economy of the region, employing literally thousands of others. Taxes paid counts into the tens of millions.
One even invented the Ellison turnstile, still used today at football grounds.
Manchester has the second largest Chinese population in the UK
I love walking through Chinatown; Forty-five years ago, it was virtually non-existent. Today, it's vibrant. But the real joy is getting on a bus at Salford University and listening to the third generation Chinese coming out of our education system ready to join Team North West and contribute at the very highest level.
Yes we need to have sensible controls for immigration in place, but we shall be far more effective controlling it as a member of the EU. At the same time, take a look at where you came from. Because the history of these islands is one of wave after wave of migration. Once the mixture is beaten in, our heritage becomes our strength.
The only way to ensure our security is to stick together and present a strong front to the rest of the world
Tony Wilson was only partially right. The fact is that the whole UK is a nation of immigrants. It’s good for us. That’s why us Brits are as hard as nails.
And, by the way, Nurse Czajkowski, or Buzz, as I know you today, thanks for being a member of the team who helped save my right arm at Hope Hospital three years ago. You and your family are welcome at my dinner table any time.
Next, prosperity. This publication, seven years ago, sailed into an economic storm the likes of which this publisher has never seen in his lifetime. It nearly finished Confidential off. Through an enormous effort, with staff accepting late payment of wages, cutting down expenditure, suppliers accepting late payments along with us all following Churchill’s advice, that 'if you’re walking through hell, keep going’, we eventually saw our way across a very stormy ocean and emerged with the aircraft carrier that is Confidential intact. Today, we are profitable. We are back to paying substantial taxes. We are the only major Manchester media managed and owned by Mancunians, for Mancunia.
The feeling walking across Manchester, to my mind the greatest city in the world, is one that encourages optimism. It gives confidence to the business leaders, encouraging them to look for and deliver fresh capital into our economy, which, in turn, leads to more jobs and therefore, more prosperity. A virtuous circle.
The late Steve Jobs, head of Apple Corp, said that he pays the best people to tell him what to do next. He doesn’t pay them for him to tell them what to do next. So why would anyone ignore the advice of virtually every world-class financial agency, from the Governor of the Bank of England, to the head of the International Monetary Fund, that Brexit would see us slide back into recession? Ignoring them is just plain daft. Confidential believes the advice. We want to see at least ten years of strong growth across our region. The odds are with us if we stay. Do we really want to leave it completely to a toss of dice? Because it seems that the Leave team can give no fact-based evidence whatsoever that says we would be better off financially if we leave.
Cameron and Osborne may be seen as a pair of shifty buggers, but at least they steered our ship out of a shocker of a storm faster than the rest of Europe. You know what you are getting with those two. Do you really have confidence in Farage, Boris and poor little Gove?
Now, security. For the first time in over five hundred years, Europe has been at peace. For over seventy years, at least. That is because of the acceptance by most European countries that the only way to ensure our security is to stick together and present a strong front to the rest of the world. In future conflict, the only way forward for us is as part of that Union. We, on our own, are no longer a power to be reckoned with. We have no Navy to speak of to protect our sea routes, we cannot feed ourselves should our supply routes be cut off, and our air force is tiny. The Commonwealth is finished as anything other than a talking shop. We cannot protect ourselves on our own.
You may be able to snap a twig, but rope a couple of dozen together and have a try.
Security for the future of our children and grandchildren depends on alliances made now. Because as sure as eggs are eggs, there will be fallouts in the future; most likely future wars will be fought over water and food. We need to be ready for that. We need easy access to Europe.
Mind you, you could rely on Farage, three pints in at the Dog and Duck, to lease us out as an aircraft carrier for the Americans.
An Austrian pal, Johnny Ledebur, sent me a text yesterday. It read:
'It’ll be such a daft thing for GB to leave the EUnion! And some nasty economic backlashes as well to come with it… Sadly and painfully I can quite understand some of the Brexit arguments - but it will have some nasty consequences such as import subsidies to stop, total dependency on the US, Scottish independence and what will happen to Ireland? Not a good outlook, Sincerely yours, Johnny.'
In the end, this debate is about the long-term security of our children and grandchildren. To my mind, it's not about ‘taking our country back’, or being a few quid better off. It’s about being human in dealing with migrants, because folks, look closely, see that child floating face down in the Mediterranean? That could have been your great grandfather.
Finally, think about those hundreds of acres of war graves strewn across northern France.
Vote remain. It’s not all about you.
Mark Garner
Publisher. Father. Grandfather.
The result of the EU Referendum will be announced from Manchester Town Hall on Friday 24 August.
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