'Integration with diversity in modern Britain': New Labour on nationality, immigration and asylum

Does New Labour's multicultural introduction of the 2002 White Paper 'Secure Borders, Safe Haven: Integration with Diversity in Modern Britain' mark a progressive shift in migration policy? Analysing policy debates surrounding the 2002 legislation through a discourse theoretical perspective, this paper assesses how far New Labour practices an integrative approach to nationality, immigration and asylum. Locating the analysis historically, the paper first reconstructs New Labour's normative framework through the adaptation of Berry's model of refugee acculturation. It then goes on to problematise claims to a multicultural 'integration with diversity', arguing that processes of 'assimilation through segregation' are indicative of a primary monoculturalism within New Labour's approach. In showing how a complex of inclusions and exclusions maintains this exclusivist approach, the paper suggests that the ideological concealment of monoculturalism is evidence of a reactionary and conservative response rather than a radically progressive one.