How rightwing rhetoric has risen sharply in the UK parliament – an exclusive visual analysis
#UK parliament #immigration rhetoric #rightwing shift #House of Commons #political analysis #machine learning #Brexit influence #party competition
📌 Key Takeaways
- UK MPs have adopted the most hostile immigration rhetoric in a century
- References to immigration in parliament increased from 1% to 5.4% of all speeches
- Major parties are competing to appear tough on immigration
- Analysis used AI to examine 100 years of parliamentary data
📖 Full Retelling
The Guardian has revealed that UK MPs from both Labour and Conservative parties have adopted significantly more hostile rhetoric toward immigration in the House of Commons over the past five years than at almost any other time in the last century, according to an unprecedented analysis of 100 years of parliamentary speeches conducted with researchers from University College London. The analysis shows a dramatic shift to the right on immigration issues, with the most substantial change occurring since 2020, as experts note that major party politicians have been competing to demonstrate toughness on asylum and immigration following the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform UK. Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, described this as 'a historically unprecedented dual negative shift in sentiment on immigration.' The Guardian's research utilized a custom machine learning model to analyze all House of Commons debates from 1925 to the end of 2025, revealing that references to immigration have rapidly multiplied in recent years. Before 2000, only 1% of MPs' contributions addressed immigration, but by 2023 this had reached a record high of 5.4% of all speeches. Sunder Katwala, director of British Future thinktank, attributed the 'hardening of the political debate' to parties overcompensating for perceived failures to address public concerns since the Brexit referendum, noting how politicians seem to be 'bidding each other up' in adopting increasingly restrictive positions.
🏷️ Themes
Political rhetoric, Immigration policy, UK politics
📚 Related People & Topics
House of Commons
Type of legislative assembly
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the upper house of parliament, which is nominally superior. The leader of the majority party in t...
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. Since 1999, varying degrees of powers have been devolved to the national parliamen...
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Peter Mandelson
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Original Source
How rightwing rhetoric has risen sharply in the UK parliament – an exclusive visual analysis In the past five years, MPs’ attitudes in the House of Commons towards immigration have swung harder to the right than at almost any other time in the last century Labour and Conservative MPs are speaking in a more hostile way about immigration than at almost any other time in the last century, the Guardian can reveal. An unprecedented analysis of 100 years of parliamentary speeches has shown a sharp shift to the right on the issue – with the biggest swing from positive to negative attitudes coming in the past five years. Experts warn that MPs from the two main parties have been trying to outdo each other over how tough they appear on asylum and immigration since the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said there was “a clear case in principle that what we’ve seen in the past couple of years is a historically unprecedented dual negative shift in sentiment on immigration”. The following visual analysis shows how MPs’ language towards immigration today compares with previous decades. The Guardian analysis also reveals that references to immigration have rapidly multiplied in recent years as the issue has dominated British politics. The proportion of speeches relating to immigration has grown sharply since the late 1990s. Before the turn of the millennium, just 1% of MPs’ contributions in the House of Commons were about immigration. By 2023, the proportion had reached a record high of 5.4% of all speeches. Sunder Katwala, the director of the thinktank British Future, said there had been a “hardening of the political debate” around immigration since 2022, with parties concerned over the accusation, made after the Brexit referendum, that they had not listened to concerns and reacted too slowly. “I think there’s an element of overcompensation,” he said. “You end up almost ventriloquising a cartoonish caricatur...
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