Migration Watch UK: News

New research shows impact of immigration on social housing

Proportion of foreign born in social housing rises 50% in ten years.

New research by Migrationwatch, based on official figures, shows the pressure that uncontrolled immigration has placed – and will place – on social housing.

Speaking at the annual conference of the National Housing Federation in London Migrationwatch chairman, Sir Andrew Green said that in the last ten years, the number of UK born tenants in social housing in the UK has fallen by about 1.2 million while non UK-born tenants have increased by 300,000. As a result, the proportion of foreign born has increased from 7.2% to 11.1% - an increase of 54%.

Migrants who arrived here in the last five years and are not refugees are not yet eligible to apply for social housing but could become so in future years if they are granted settlement. Grants of settlement for non-EEA nationals are running at about 160,000 a year, giving a potential pool of 800,000 although, of course, by no means all will apply.

The rise in the proportion of foreign born in social housing is greater because the supply of social housing has not merely failed to meet the demand in a period of very high immigration, but the stock of social housing has actually fallen over the last ten years.

See Full Press Release

See also the PowerPoint Presentation

Migration figures, not prejudice

Independent Newspaper Letters Column 23 September, 2009.

Mark Steel's column on 9 September, "The Poles might be leaving but the prejudice remains" claimed that most of the apocalyptic warnings of an Eastern European take-over could be traced back to the organisation Migrationwatch. On the contrary, we have been saying for over a year now that we expect East European migration to come back into balance in a few years' time.

He further asserted that we have declared that the UK population is still destined to rise to an unsustainable 80 million in the next 40 years. In fact, we always stick closely to the principal population projection prepared by the Office for National Statistics. That gives a UK population of 78.6 million in 2056.

Finally he attributes our view to "millions coming from Africa. He is putting a gloss on a paper we produced on world trends which was based firmly on the UN medium projection of the world population (2008).

None of this could be described as "prejudiced", which is an unjustified slur.

Sir Andrew Green

Chairman, Migrationwatch UK.

BBC Today programme: asylum seekers, Calais

Sir Andrew Green was interviewed on the Today Programme at 8.35 this morning about the asylum seekers' camp near Calais, together with Donna Covey, the Chief Executive of the Refugee Council.

Sir Andrew said that the reason for people queueing up in Calais must be that Britain was perceived as a "soft touch". The official statistics suggested that this might be the case as anyone reaching Britain and claiming asylum had a nearly 80% chance of staying, often illegally.

He suggested that the government should take three steps:

1 Double the resources for removal.

2 Clamp down on employers of illegal labour.They had started to do this.

3 Take on the absurd arguments for an amnesty which could only make a bad situation worse.

You can hear the discussion on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme web site.

The Economist on-line debate on international migration

The Economist's motion is "This house believes that there is too much international migration". Migrationwatch Chairman, Sir Andrew Green, is one of the debate's expert guests.

There are opening, rebuttal, and concluding statements from two main debaters, with commentary from the expert guests.

The debate, which started on 8 September, is moderated by Adam Roberts, the Economist's news editor.

To vote and to add your view to the debate go to http://www.economist.com/debate

Should the UK stop trying to control immigration?

Migrationwatch Chairman, Sir Andrew Green, will be one of the panellists on BBC Radio 4 'Iconoclasts' programmes on Wednesday, 9 September at 8.02 pm.

This live three-part discussion programme, chaired by Ed Stourton, will examine controversial policy suggestions.

Philippe Legrain, journalist, will propose that the UK should stop trying to control immigration. His views will be challenged by Mrs Ann Cryer (MP Labour),Tony Saint, writer and former immigration officer as well as Sir Andrew.

How immigration affects population size

A UK population of 70 million remains very likely within 25 years, despite the probably temporary effect of the recession. That is the conclusion of a report issued today by Migrationwatch.

The baby boom and the International Passenger Survey figures released last week have cast the spotlight on the growth in our population. The birth rate has gone up, partly due to immigration, but net immigration is now likely to be much lower for 2008 due largely to a greater outflow of EU citizens – presumably as a result of the recession. Meanwhile, the Minister for Immigration has challenged the validity of the population projections produced by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS). He has also given the public an assurance that the population of the UK will not reach 70 million…

See Full Press Release.