Immigration Compared To The Years 1945-79

Immigration throughout the years 1918-39 compared to the years 1945-79 had a drastic change, including: government policy regarding immigration, public attitudes towards immigration and the type of immigration. Although they remained similar in some aspects, the change was much more notable.

One way immigration changed was through government policy. In the interwar years, government policy often discouraged immigration, through legislation such as the 1914 British Nationality and Status Aliens Act and 1919 Aliens Act. The British Nationality Act brought about the first modern passport which was introduced to put a halt to wartime espionage. The 1919 Aliens Act discouraged immigration because they would need work permits to travel to Britain

In the period 1918-39, the majority of Britons were unaffected by migration, but those who were affected were always opposed to the idea of immigrants. After WW2, in the period of 1945-79, attitudes to immigration changed to a large extent for the worse. People were increasingly negative towards immigrants, resulting in many riots, such as the Notting Hill riots. As a result of these riots, 9 ‘Teddy boys’ were imprisoned for 5 years after the riot in 1968. Another way attitudes were publicly shown to be increasingly negative was through Enoch Powell’s speech stating how he was against immigrants, as he believed they would steal Britons jobs. Since he was a public figure, many people would share his thoughts and show their disgust through violence and discrimination. Throughout the time period, ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ was a popular TV show which displayed racial discrimination. At its peak, it gained 16 million viewers. If this discrimination was televised, many people would begin to believe that this is what is right and take their ideas out publicly, resulting in a negative attitude, resulting in a poor lifestyle for immigrants. However, although this TV show was popular there is no way it can be proven that those who watched it internalised the racist messages throughout the series and they may have potentially watched it as there were only a few channels to choose from. Immigration did not