Immigration Faultlines: ‘under siege’ in Slough

Alexandra Road in Slough is a globalised street. For years, the long-established Asian community ran the businesses, bought the houses, ruled the roost. Now they are getting used to immigrants from eastern Europe, among them Roma gypsies.

Tony Periera, a mechanic from Goa who used to be a hippy, found that the local church connected him to British life when he arrived in Slough. Years later, he believes Alexandra Road – which has problems with anti-social behaviour and prostitution – is a long way from multi-cultural fairyland and is very worried about immigration.

“We should have the right people coming to this country. In order to get integrated, it has to be scrutinised to a certain extent,” he says. Tony is concerned about what happens on the street at night, the “hang-out guys” and drug addicts he says are a result of immigration.

‘Under siege’

He feels under siege and says new arrivals from eastern Europe cannot be relied on to stand up for Britain “in times of crisis”.

Most Roma were unwilling to talk to us, but Stefan – who describes himself as three quarters Romanian and a quarter gypsy – was the exception. He works in a supermarket for a British Pakistani family and is at ease with his neighbours, saying that people tend to ignore the “good parts” of Romanians and emphasise the “bad parts”.

With the election, the politics of immigration is not playing in Alexandra Road, It is not immigration as political clarion call, it is immigration lived.

Immigration Faultlines: watch Paraic O'Brien's report from Margate below