This contribution deals with political discussions in Britain, where rising costs of translation and interpreting services for immigrants and members of ethnic minorities are coming under criticism. Examining the arguments of the British government, as well as the wider public, we detect causal connections being made between ignorance of the English language, use of translation and interpreting services, failure to integrate, and extremism. In the second part these arguments are placed in the wider context of language politics in Britain. It is shown that the ideological debates on translation politics are permeated by the underlying controversy over national identity and ethnic identity. In the final part it is postulated that Translation Studies can make a decisive contribution to answering the question “Does translation hinder integration?”. Detailed empirical studies are necessary to ascertain the consequences of the availability (or not) of translation and interpreting services in certain communication situations and to find out how far this influences integration and social cohesion.