Migrating to the United
Kingdom
Ranil Perera
There has been much debate recently about migration. Some of
it in connection with the vote on EU membership. As a migrant I thought it
might be helpful if I contributed to the discussion.
As migrants my wife and I have bought in to British Values. We judge that we have integrated into the local community also. Given our colonial origins – Ceylon – now known as Sri Lanka it wasn’t difficult. She and I communicated with our parents, grandparents, relations and friends, principally in English. We were both educated entirely in Sinhalese but understood English culture from parents.
When I arrived in the UK to attend university and quoted English dramatists, poets and authors, e.g.
·
(when bored) from Shakespeare - Macbeth’s
soliloquy–
‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from
day-to-day
To the last syllabus of recorded time’
‘Had we but world enough and time
This coyness lady, were no crime’
I was surprised to find that I had a better grasp of English
literature than some my British born, English fellow students. I note here I
studied science at ‘A’ level and then engineering. I acquired the grasp of English
literature and British values from my parents their friends and my classmates.
I heard on BBC Radio’s ‘Today’ programme (19th
June 2016) someone advocating that migrants ‘interact’ with their local
communities but remain as separate communities: I wonder whether the emphasis
should be more on integrating rather interacting? Perhaps we migrants should
see ourselves as citizens of the UK first and then as members of the local community
rather than members of a separate migrant community? If migrants keep
themselves separate, all will be the poorer for it – and this approach may
foster inter-communal tensions and strife even. As migrants we should be
committed to the country we are in, and perhaps more widely to Europe, and even
more widely the world community – but first to the country we live in and have
allegiance to.
The first member of my family to migrate was my maternal
grandfather, Thomas David Jayasuriya MBE, OBE. He came to the UK in 1922 to study at
the University of London and returned to Ceylon when he had completed his
studies.
My father
came to the UK with his mother in the later 1940s and studied law at Chart’s
Chambers, Lincolns Inn. Jeremy Thorpe, the Liberal politician was a fellow
pupil. My mother who had graduated from the University of Ceylon and was
private secretary to the Minister of education (Mr Eddie Nugawela), gave up her
job, migrated to the UK and married my father at St Barnabas Church, Kensington,
in January 1950.
I was born however in Ceylon. But later lived in the UK between the ages of two and four years. Then we all migrated back to Ceylon. But my father returned to the UK and worked for J H Vavasseur and Co in the City[2] before returning to Ceylon at the end of the 1950s.
My paternal grandfather T D Perera CMG retired to a flat he
had bought in Hammersmith. But after many years, returned to his wife in
Ceylon.
My wife Romie’s forbears are more interesting than mine.
Some of her father’s ancestors were migrants from Cornwall to Ceylon. Other
members of her father’s people had Dutch origins – and perhaps may have been
part of the Jewish exodus from Europe. Her maternal great-grandmother Amy was
presented at Court in 1897 – but on the way to London, during her European
travels, married Eduardo Roversi in Rome in 1894. My wife’s grandmother Elena,
great-aunt Hilda and great-uncle Neville were all born in Rome but educated in
England. In 1922 (perhaps because of the rise of Mussolini) Amy returned to
Ceylon with her three children who were now aged around 20.
I came to University (Downing College, Cambridge) in the
1970s. My mother migrated to Cambridge at the same time – parents were not
getting on. She became a civil servant. I did do some rowing at Cambridge,
representing my college at the Henley Royal Regatta.
Having worked in banking and financial services (asset management,
insurance and for financial infrastructure) as a consultant or employee, I
found myself seconded (1 to 2 days per week) as the sole technical advisor to
the European Commission (in the early 1990s) on financial services. By
explaining the nature of financial services in the UK and the rest to the EU, I
was able to ensure that no regulation inimical to British interests emerged in
the first Investment Services Directive. Regrettably that technical engagement
was not there for subsequent financial services directives / regulation from
the EU, and, consequently, much unsuitable (for the UK) regulation has emerged.
I believe that proper technical engagement with the European
Commission can ensure that EU regulation inimical to the UK can be avoided.
Even post-Brexit.
My wife and I were married at St Margaret Lothbury, in the
City of London. The vicar, Tom Farrell, had been a hurdler. Duncan White[3]
a Ceylonese hurdler, known to my father and father-in-law was known to Tom, as
Duncan had trained with the British team. I had met Duncan when I was a boy, at
the Ceylon University sports grounds.
As mentioned at the start, my wife and I have both bought in
to British values and seek to contribute either through voluntary work (my wife
teaches English to migrants, I have worked voluntarily on projects / articles
to promote the UK as the world’s leading financial centre) or in other ways to
the benefit of society as a whole. We do not seek to impose other values on
British society but are ready to share our experience where we judge that it
would be helpful.
I believe that migrants to the UK should be encouraged to
buy-in to British values. Also integrate into and contribute to British
society. After all, as migrants we have a choice. If we choose to stay in the
UK we should buy-in to British values. Also contribute to British society as a
whole. This could be done by making suitable voluntary activities / service
available to migrants.
Noting that English is spoken by about half the world, I
believe that the UK could still play a leading role in Europe on the one hand
and the world community on the other. Perhaps acting as a bridge between the EU
and the English speaking world.
The UK is the world’s leading centre for financial services.
It must continue as such.
Whilst manufacturing in the UK can and should revive (there
was a time when Austin and Rover were considered high quality cars and
‘continental cars’ mass produced) perhaps current emphasis should be on the
high technology industries?
Britain’s position in the world community must be pre-eminent.
Migrants can contribute to this.
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