18 years after the Runnymede Trust set up The Commission for the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, chaired by Lord Bhiku Parekh, immigration legislation is increasingly outsourcing border-guard roles to ordinary citizens extending the UK border further into everyday life. A recent example are the ‘Right to Rent‘ checks, introduced in the 2014 Immigration Act and compulsory in England since the 1st of February 2016 under which private landlords are obliged to check the identities immigration status of any adult living in their properties. If they fail to do so they face fines and if the 2015 Immigration Bill becomes law, imprisonment. Similar requirements for employers, bank workers, health workers and education institutions to carry out immigration related checks and monitoring as part of their everyday work, are threatening the ‘vibrant multicultural society, at ease with its rich diversity’ that the Parekh Report hoped Britain would become.

There will be a screening of the film ‘Everyday Borders’ (dir Orson Nava), followed by a panel discussion.

Speakers

Lord Bhiku Parekh: Chair of The Commission for the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain and author of the Parekh Report

Omar Khan: Director, Runnymede Trust

Pragna Patel: Director, Southall Black Sisters

Professor Nira Yuval-Davis: Director, Centre for research on Migration, Refugees and Belonging at UEL

Chair: Dr Suki Ali, Department of Sociology, LSE