Yva Alexandrova: Here To Stay: Eastern Europeans in Britain

Bulgarian writer and immigration expert Yva Alexandrova tells the story of Eastern European migrants in the UK, and argues for a more just, humane and compassionate immigration system.

The arrival of Eastern European migrants to the UK after the enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and 2011 was one of the key social transformations of the last twenty years in this country. Yet whilst reporting on this has focused mainly on the impact of immigration on the UK, and has been constructed of racist vox-pops and sensationalist political debate, there has been very little research on, and even less insight into, the experiences of the migrants themselves.

Drawing on personal experience, interviews and research, Yva Alexandrova tells hers and the stories of other Eastern Europeans that came to the UK, and shows how attitudes to immigration have changed in the last twenty years, particularly in the wake of Brexit and a new wave of nativism that has swept across Britain. She argues that both the right and the left have made political compromises on migration, and makes a passionate and vivid argument for fair and just migration that is grounded in people’s lived experiences and aspirations, and not in political expediency, as integral to progressive movements today.

At a time when racism, xenophobia and nationalism dominate political discussion in the UK and around the world, Here To Stay: Eastern Europeans in Britain tells the stories of people who are rarely seen in debates about immigration.