A report by the Runnymede Trust has found that a pattern of 'hostile language' in UK news reports and parliamentary debates is more likely to describe people of colour as immigrants or with less sympathy. The race equality thinktank analysed over 63 million words from nearly 53,000 news articles and 317 House of Commons debates on immigration between 2019 and July 2024.
Researchers concluded that the use of language about race and immigration by media and politicians has helped shape 'the increase in reactionary politics and backlash against antiracism which has emboldened the far right in this country'. The report, titled 'A Hostile Environment: Language, Race, Surveillance and the Media', is the second in a series. The first phase, covering 2010 to 2014, found that 'illegal' was the most commonly linked word to migrants in parliamentary debates.
The latest report found that between 2019 and 2024, the word 'illegal' became an even stronger association with 'migrant' and 'immigrant' in both news and parliamentary debates than in the earlier period. The authors claim this shows that 'the defining characteristic of migrants has been cemented as illegality over the past decade'. The study also claims that since 2014, 'hostile environment' immigration policies have worked to 'expand and normalise the surveillance state'.
When filtering words associated with immigrants by nationality, religion, ethnicity and location, researchers found 'Mexican' was most strongly associated, typically in the context of US news. 'Chinese' and 'Indian' were also strongly associated with 'immigrant(s)', usually in UK reporting. Other common signifiers included 'Asian', 'Irish', 'Haitian', 'Muslim', 'Jewish', 'non-white', 'Venezuelan', 'Cuban' and 'African'. The report noted that 'overwhelmingly, when the UK news media represents immigrants, the image that is invoked … is of an ethnically minoritised person'.
In parliamentary debates, the top 10 words most strongly associated with migration were 'illegal', 'net', 'committee', 'act', 'bill', 'tackle', 'level', 'reduce', 'system' and 'mass'. The report said parliamentarians were more likely to use humanising terms like 'guest', 'brave', 'community' or 'diaspora' when talking about Ukrainians. It claimed that 'racist discourse from the highest levels of UK society … is used to frame immigration as an existential threat to the British way of life'.
The report highlighted the 'stop the boats' slogan as a stark example of the partnership between parliament and media in framing public perceptions. It noted that rioters in summer 2024 used this slogan on banners and in chants, demonstrating that hostile language has emboldened sectors of the public to engage in racist violence. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the August 2024 disorder highlighted the need for a new approach to community cohesion, with a task force developing a strategic national approach and £1.5bn being invested in community services.
