Migration Watch UK: News

Public want a massive cut in immigration. Nearly 80 per cent concerned about the issue.

A 7 out of 10 adults want immigration cut by over 80%. Just 1 in 20 adults support the current level.

The YouGov poll, which was commissioned by Migrationwatch for the Cross Party Group on Balanced Migration, found that 79 per cent of people were “concerned” or “very concerned” about the issue of immigration.

Net foreign immigration – the number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants – has run at about 300,000 a year for the last five years.

See the full Press Release for the YouGov poll.

Population out of control: Why present policies cannot keep our population even to 70 million

Summary

The government have assured the public that the population of the UK will not be allowed to reach 70 million and that their new Points Based System (PBS) will ensure that this is achieved. Unfortunately, this cannot possibly be so........

Conclusion

……Last year the PBS would have only stopped 11,500 migrants out of 237,000 arriving in the UK.

. It is quite clear that the PBS in its present form will not, of itself, be remotely enough to keep the population of the UK below 70 million. This is not surprising since it does not place overall limits on immigration, and was never intended to do so. It remains to be seen whether the Government will take serious measures, including a much tougher version of the points based system, to limit the impact of immigration on our population. There is no evidence of this so far.

Read the full text of this Briefing Paper 9.21 on population projections which was prepared by Migrationwatch at the request of the Cross Party Group on Balanced Migration.

Cross Party Group Aim for 'Balanced Migration'

The first cross party group of parliamentarians to address how immigration into the UK can be brought back under control has been formed at Westminster.

Headed by two distinguished former ministers, Frank Field, Labour, and Nicholas Soames, Conservative, it is the first time in British political history that parliamentarians from the two main parties have come together to stimulate public debate on the issue and put forward practical solutions.

Under the ‘Balanced Migration’ banner they seek to persuade the Government that, over time, immigration should be brought substantially lower until it is close to the rate of emigration. This would stabilise the UK’s population and greatly reduce the pressures on public services and society.

Their approach, which has widespread public support, aims to ensure that as a nation we strike the right balance between creating a competitive economy with a flexible workforce, and relieving the burdens that uncontrolled immigration is placing upon our society.

Full details can be seen at Balanced Migration.

The Business Visitor Scheme under the Points Based System

Migrationwatch called yesterday for much tougher rules on business visitors. The new rules are far too lax and, in particular, permit unlimited secondment of foreign employees to Britain

Commenting, the Chairman, Sir Andrew Green, said "The Government scrabbled to produce these rules only days before the system goes live. Far from being "tough" the rules for business visitors drive a coach and horses through the entire work permit system. Now any foreign company with a contract with a British company can send as many seconded staff as they wish for periods of six months each. This could easily be used to replace more expensive British workers as the recession bites. The Government must think again and take urgent measures to put proper controls in place."

How many more people can our small island take? As population heads towards 70 million has the penny dropped for Labour?

By Sir Andrew Green, Chairman, Migration Watch UK.

The issues around immigration are steadily becoming clearer as successive government smoke screens are blown away by the cool wind of logic.

New immigration figures being published by the Government today will confirm that very high levels of immigration are continuing at about 200,000 a year.

In recent weeks, the penny has finally dropped in government circles that immigration is having a huge impact on our population. This is not a matter of speculation.

Getting too crowded? The UK population is on course to hit 70 million unless effective measures are taken

The Government's own projections show that the UK population will reach 70 million in 20 years'time.

To read the full text of this article see Press Articles on Migration Watch UK's web site.

Toughening the Points Based System

With unemployment climbing fast, it is no longer acceptable that jobs which have never been advertised in Britain should be offered to economic migrants. Nor should migrants be admitted without a job to go to. The total of these categories is at least 75,000 jobs a year and probably a good deal more. These arrangements should be suspended while the recession lasts.

It is not generally realised that a significant number of work permits are issued to foreign economic migrants without the job being advertised in Britain or in the EU and that a considerable number of economic migrants are admitted without a job to go to.

To see the full text of this document go to Migrationwatch's Briefing Paper 3.5.

The recession: no solution to large scale immigration

New Research published today concludes that the widely forecast recession will not tackle the long term challenge of large scale immigration.

The report was prepared by Migrationwatch at the request of the Cross Party Group on Balanced Migration. It plots annual growth in GDP since 1970 to identify previous years of recession and examines what happened to net migration. It clearly shows that the reduction of immigration during a recession is only a temporary effect: immigration soon resumes its steep upward trend.

Commenting, Frank Field MP, Labour co-Chairman of the Cross Party Group said:

"Now that a recession is looming on the horizon, some people are claiming that the immigration problem will sort itself out. The record clearly disproves this claim. Government action remains essential and urgent if large-scale immigration is to be brought under control."

Nicholas Soames MP, the Conservative co-Chairman, said:

"We must be sure that industry can continue to compete as markets get more difficult. But we must balance the needs of industry with those of society. Failure to curb immigration would mean having to build seven cities the size of Birmingham in England in the next 25 years for new immigrants.That would not be acceptable to the public.”