One possible by-product of negative coverage of the Polish community is racially aggravated attacks and there were 42 such attacks in 2008, up from 28 in 2004. The rise can be set against the fact that the community has grown rapidly in recent years, although it may be that some attacks were not reported or were not interpreted as racially motivated.

Whilst fortunately only a few resort to actual violence, what the debates in the media over the benefits of immigration generally and Polish immigration in particular do demonstrate is the polarisation of opinion within the UK as a whole.

It appears that much of the tension comes in smaller towns where the large number of Polish workers is more visible. According to Wiktor Moszczynski, spokesman of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain, much of the tension in these cases stems from the fact that many of the Poles in the country areas do not speak much English and they often live in poor conditions in small existing Polish communities.

http://polishexpress.polacy.co.uk/art,uk_recession_increases_hate_crimes,3499.html

However he argues that their case is not helped by exaggerated scare stories concerning Polish workers claiming benefits, putting local hospitals and council house shortages under strain and working for levels of pay which undermined the wage levels of indigenous workers.

He suggested a plan to help reduce inter-community tensions. He said the government should provide statistics on how many citizens from the eight EU accession states were living in each district and that a programme for free English lessons be more widely available. He also wanted to see more recruitment of Polish-speaking staff by local services and he said there should be a drive to ensure that all had the opportunity to register with a doctor.