At a presentation hosted by Sweden Democrats MEP Charlie Weimers, of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) in the European Parliament, by the political scientist Matt Goodwin warned of rapid demographic and cultural transformation across Europe.
He framed mass migration as an existential threat to national identity and social cohesion.
Debates about population replacement and statistics about mass migration have been very contentious, with progressive branding such rhetoric as “extreme Right”. The ECR, though, appears to be willing to move the needle in the EP
The event, organised by the ECR yesterday, centred on Goodwin’s latest book, Suicide of a Nation, a Sunday Times bestseller that has sparked both public interest and controversy.
Despite accusations of being generated with AI and lacking mainstream publisher support, the book has managed to become a Sunday Times number one bestseller for two weeks and has achieved significant public demand.
Goodwin opened the presentation by describing the UK’s dramatic demographic shift: The historic white British majority is projected to shrink from 74 per cent today to just 33 per cent by the end of the century, he said.
Foreign-born residents could rise from 19 per cent to 60 per cent, with Muslims potentially making up one-in-four or even one-in-three under-40s.
In 2023, “Mohammed” overtook “Noah” as the most popular boys’ name in Britain, a symbolic milestone for many.
Presenting Suicide of a Nation in the European Parliament today
The No.1 Sunday Times bestseller
The people deserve to know the truth about what is happening to their nations pic.twitter.com/rnDcz7ekB2
— Matt Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) April 21, 2026
“People feel like strangers in their own country,” Goodwin stated, citing a recent poll where over half of Britons — and one in three black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) individuals — expressed discomfort with the pace of change.
He argued that mass migration, driven by policy rather than public demand, is reshaping cities and schools.
In London, white Britons now make up one-third of the population, down from 83 per cent in 2001. One-in-four UK schools has a white British minority, and four in ten children have at least one foreign-born parent.
The consequent collapse of a shared national identity was a central theme of the event.
Goodwin pointed to the decline of Christianity. Only 1 per cent of Generation Z identifies with the Church of England, while Islam grows rapidly.
In parts of London, he noted, Muslims can live without encountering non-Muslims. “Soon, they will dominate politics in major cities,” he warned, a trend already visible in western Europe, where Muslim populations range from 20 per cent to 30 per cent in many countries.
More than five million people in England now speak a language other than English at home.
Goodwin criticised politicians for avoiding the issue, despite 98 per cent of UK population growth coming from mass immigration. He accused elites of “suicidal empathy”, ignoring crimes such as grooming gangs, where white girls were mass raped by groups of often Pakistani men, for decades, allegedly to avoid offending minority communities.
Goodwin called for radical changes: Ending mass migration, leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), restricting welfare and housing subsidies for non-British residents and banning organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Sharia courts.
He also proposed democratic reforms, such as restricting postal voting and rescinding voting rights for Commonwealth citizens, to prevent what he described as “tribal, clan-based voting”.
He urged a return to national sovereignty and pro-family policies, arguing that the spiritual and cultural crisis underlying these trends must be addressed before it is too late.
Goodwin further noted that the Left sees migration as a solution to several problems in western countries, such as declining birth rates and productivity. bot he added that even in the best scenario this is “a Ponzi scheme” because “you’ll always need more people to pay for the gap”.
He said it would require a monumental mentality shift to change the current migration policies but was hopeful that it was possible.
“We can do it on health, smoking and in other domains, we can change the zeitgeist here too,” hhe said.
Weimers, comparing the UK to a “slow kid in the class,” noted that while the European Union is beginning to act with new laws on asylum and returns, the UK could still lead if it adopts effective policies.
He warned that without change, Europe risks following the path of Lebanon, where sectarian divisions have fractured society.
Paraphrasing French author Michel Houellebecq, Goodwin warned that European people “don’t have their Israel”.
“This is our home. We have nowhere else to go.”
