Migration Watch UK: News

Migration Advisory Committee’s Report ‘An Analysis of the Impacts of Migration’

In response to the findings published today by the Migration Advisory Committee, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:

"This is a thoroughly professional report. The committee have had the courage to say straight out that immigration can add to unemployment, especially during a recession. They are also right to draw attention to impacts that are harder to quantify - such as housing and congestion."

Youth unemployment: response to Matt Cavanagh

Cavanagh's New Statesman blog employs a well tried technique commonly known as the "straw man".

Apart from various disobliging remarks, it is largely devoted to showing that there is no statistical evidence that immigration causes youth unemployment. Indeed so. We made the point ourselves.

He also says that the recession was a major factor. We said that too.

But what we do not believe is that the arrival of 1.5 million enthusiastic young workers from Eastern Europe (of whom 600,000 are still here) has had no effect on youth unemployment - especially given the wide acknowledgement of the difficulties that face econometrics in isolating such effects within the labour market. To describe this as "blaming immigration" is simply absurd.

We do indeed have a very serious problem over youth unemployment. That, we suggest, calls for a more measured approach to the issues involved.

Broadcaster Nick Ferrari on government immigration policies

Nick Ferrari claimed on the BBC This Week show that it was not racist to have a debate on immigration, and the current and previous governments had all reneged on pledges to deal with the issue. bbc.in/sJH4UD He further added that immigration came in the top three of subjects for voters bbc.in/vQUrec

Migration Watch UK Comment on Migration Advisory Committee Reports issued this morning

In relation to the MAC’s Review of the transitional restrictions on access of Bulgarian and Romanian nationals to the UK labour market, Sir Andrew Green said:

“The MAC have got this absolutely right. It would be intolerable to have another inflow of East Europeans when unemployment is running at 2.5 million.”

Commenting on the MAC Report on Settle Rights of migrants in Tier 1 and Tier 2, Sir Andrew Green said:

“This is a critical step in the right direction. Salary must be the key. Breaking the almost automatic link is vital if net migration is to be reduced to a level which will keep the UK population below 70 million, as demanded by our e-petition”

Migration Watch UK E-Petition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/19658

 

Miliband still in denial on Labour’s immigration failure – they didn’t “see it”, they caused it

Net foreign immigration under Labour was over three million yet their leader’s only reference to immigration in his Conference speech was a single sentence:

“And we have seen immigration policy which didn’t work for the people whose jobs, living standards and communities were affected”.

“They didn’t see it. They caused it”, said Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK. “The only question is whether it was deliberate or simply incompetence or both. It is shameful that this is all Miliband now has to say about Labour’s most lasting legacy to our society, despite the widespread public concern about mass immigration.”

Meanwhile, the shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has been making lame excuses on the Today Programme. First she implied that the problem was due to East European migration when at most only a fifth of Labour’s three million immigrants came from Eastern Europe. Then she said that Italy and Spain had recently seen much higher net migration than the UK. This is simply a red herring. What she failed to mention was that both those countries have a very low birth rate so their populations would fall without immigration. By contrast, in the UK our population would be roughly stable without immigration while at presently projected levels it will take our population to 70 million within 20 years, equivalent to seven cities the size of Birmingham, with two thirds of the increase due to immigration. Nor did Ms Cooper mention that youth unemployment in Italy is now 28% and Spain it is over 40%.

A Guide to Recent Research on the Economic Impact of Immigration on the UK

Migration Watch UK published on 26 July a summary guide (Briefing Paper No 1.29) to the latest research. It covers:

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head

Employment

Wages

Budgetary impact

And includes useful quotes (and urls) from:

The House of Lords

Migration Advisory Committee (MAC)

National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)

Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)

It is intended as a useful reference document for those with a serious interest in the subject.

Findings of the Home Affairs Select Committee into Student Visas

In response to the Committee’s press statement that the "over-hasty student visas policy could cost the economy £3.6 billion", Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, commented:

"This cost of £3.6 billion is deeply unconvincing. It rests on the assumption that none of the work currently being done by foreign students would be done by the 2.5 million British workers who are now unemployed. The real issue is the tens of thousands of bogus students who turn up every year. The Committee should concentrate on that."

Forthcoming Speech from Iain Duncan Smith

In response to a speech due to be made by Iain Duncan Smith this afternoon in which he stresses the need for tighter immigration controls as part of his efforts to get people back into work, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK comments:

"Iain Duncan Smith is absolutely right. In the last ten years 1.6 million jobs have been created in the economy but the number of foreign born workers has increased by 1.77 million. The number of British-born workers has actually fallen by 140,000.

With youth unemployment running at 18%, this is completely unacceptable.

Employers have a responsibility to give young British workers a chance and the government must get a grip of immigration if they are to avoid abandoning a whole generation of young Britons on the dole."

Comment on Home Office Proposals on Settlement

In response to the proposals published by the Home Office in their consultation on Employment-Related Settlement, Tier 5 and Overseas Domestic Workers, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK commented:

"This is excellent news. There will now be a real incentive for employers to train British workers rather than continue to take skilled foreign workers 'off the shelf' so as to avoid training costs."

Cap on Economic Migration Will Have a Limited Effect

The Government’s cap on economic migration which comes into effect on 6 April will have only a limited effect on net migration in the medium term but it could become a barrier against future increases in economic migration. That is the conclusion of a paper published today by Migrationwatch.