Migration Watch UK: News

Family Permits for EU Citizens in Britain

A paper issued today by Migration Watch UK reveals that 100,000 dependants of EU nationals resident in Britain entered the UK in the last five years with no conditions attached but with full and immediate access to benefits.

The government’s reform of the Immigration Rules require British citizens to be earning £18,600 before they can bring in a spouse from outside the EU so as to avoid any cost to the taxpayer.   However, under EU law, they are obliged to provide favourable treatment to EU citizens including those who may never have been resident here prior to moving with their non-EU family.

Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said “This is a loophole that must be closed and soon.   It is absurd that EU citizens should be in a more favourable position than our own citizens.  Furthermore, 20,000 per year is a very large number to admit unconditionally, especially compared to the government’s target of tens of thousands for annual net migration.

Notes to Editors:

1 More precisely, this applies to EEA nationals.

2 Example: French or Polish citizens living in the UK can marry someone from anywhere in the world and can bring him or her to the UK even if they do not have a job and cannot support their spouse whereas a British citizen must now be earning £18,600 a year.

3 Examples of Abuse – An Indian national from Goa can obtain Portuguese citizenship if their parents were Portuguese citizens prior to 1961. They can then move straight to the UK with their family using an EEA family permit.  On arrival they can avail themselves, immediately, of all the benefits available to UK citizens. There is anecdotal evidence that this has been happening quite extensively. Many settle in Swindon, where around 9,000 Goans now live.

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Revelations about Migration Observatory

Commenting on this weekend’s revelations about the Migration Observatory, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:

 "The Migration Observatory press release avoided the central point, namely their involvement in a programme called ‘Changing Minds’ together with a number of other pro-immigration organisations.

"I was astonished to discover that they are part of a coordinated effort by a group of pro-immigration charities which is clearly a propaganda operation designed to change public opinion on the present massive levels of immigration.

"The Migration Observatory has declared their three major funders but have not declared the common objective behind the funding."

 

The Prime Minister's Speech - The Public's View

A recent YouGov survey which received remarkably little media attention has shown striking public support for the Prime Minister's proposals outlined in his speech last week. (See here for the PM's speech)

The key findings in a survey conducted on 25-26 March 2013 were:

70% of respondents supported the policy of only allowing European migrants to claim jobseekers allowance for more than six months if they have a "reasonable prospect" of finding work, including 72% of Liberal Democrat voters.

78% supported a policy which would see the government doing more to charge foreign governments for the cost of treating overseas patients, including 76% of Liberal Democrat voters. 

81% of respondents would support a policy which disallowed migrants from joining the council house waiting list until they have lived in Britain for two years, including 73% of Liberal Democrat voters.

86% of respondents support a policy of increased fines for companies that employ illegal immigrants, including 83% of Liberal Democrat voters.

The survey can be found here. 

The Prime Minister's Immigration Speech

Commenting on David Cameron's speech on immigration this afternoon, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: 

"It is surely only fair that everybody should contribute to the welfare system before they can draw benefits. The devil is often in the detail but this speech sets out a broad  agenda for tightening access to the welfare state and it is the right one."

Briefing Note on Social Housing and Immigration

Demand exceeds supply

1  The Prime Minister’s speech proposed that immigrants should wait 2-5 years before joining the waiting list which, in England, has grown dramatically in recent years from around a million in 2001 to two million today[1].  

Immigration Status and Eligibility

2  Currently EEA nationals who are habitually resident in the UK have to be treated exactly the same as British citizens in their application for social housing[2]. This in effect means that EEA nationals can join the social housing register from day one.

3  Nationals from outside the EU can join the social housing register if they have Indefinite Leave to Remain or have been granted refugee status.

4  Recent reforms in the localism act allow local authorities to house homeless people in the private rented sector and to give some priority to people with a local connection.  However, most local authorities with large waiting lists have ignored the option of favouring those with a local connection.

The impact of recent immigration

5  Nationally around 1 in 10 new lets goes to foreign nationals but there is huge local variation. For example it appears that nearly half of the lets in the London boroughs of Ealing and Haringey go to foreign nationals[3].  In Peterborough and Boston in the Fens over a quarter of new lets go to foreign nationals[4]. 

6  It is difficult to get a complete picture at the local level because the survey question on nationality is optional. This has allowed some local authorities to avoid answering it. In London less than half the local authority lets had nationality data against them[5]. 

Recommendations

7  We recommend that the nationality question be made compulsory and that there be a public inquiry into the allocation of social housing in recent years, particularly in London.                                                                   

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[1] Local Authority Housing Statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6910/2039199.pdf

[2] http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefingPaper/document/289

[3] Paragraph 22 http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefingPaper/document/286

[4] Continuous Recording of Lettings and Sales https://core.communities.gov.uk/ Advanced Analysis of General Needs new lets by local authority where previous tenure not social housing.

[5] http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefingPaper/document/286

 

Immigration: Labour Party Broadcast

Commenting on the Labour Party Broadcast, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:

"Ed Miliband's proposals could be useful in curbing unscrupulous employers but they deal mainly with EU migration. In fact, only a quarter of the nearly 3 million immigrants in Labour's last ten years came from the EU. He is wrong to imply that immigration on this scale is good for Britain. It is high time Labour indicated whether they agree that a limit on immigration is now essential.

Note to Editors:ONS Long-Term International Migration data, 2001-2010 non-British net migration was 2.79 million of which non-EU net migration accounted for 2.15 million and EU net migration accounted for 640,000

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Benefits for Overseas Children Cost UK Taxpayer £1 million per week

The taxpayer is forking out over £1 million per week in child benefit to the parents whose children who do not even live in the UK, the think tank Migration Watch UK reveals today in a new Briefing Paper.

The revelation comes following the disclosure that child benefit and tax credits are paid in respect of almost 50,000 children who live across the EU.

The majority, almost 30,000, of the 50,000 children who receive child benefit and child tax credits at UK rates live in Poland.

Child benefit in the UK is worth £81.20 per month for the first child and £53.60 for the second and subsequent  children.  This is roughly four times higher than Polish rates.

Only in the UK, Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia and the Netherlands do the rules allow child benefit to be paid for children who live elsewhere in the EU. The remaining 22 countries require that the child be resident in the territory in order to qualify.

Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said, ‘It is absurd that child benefit is paid to children who do not even live in the UK. At a time that UK taxpayers are being asked to tighten their belts, the government is paying out over £1 million per week to support children in other countries where costs are, in any case, often much lower. The majority of EU countries have the good sense to ensure that the child in question must be resident in that country in order to qualify and it is about time the UK did the same.’

Note to Editors:

See Parliamentary Question, Mr Keith Vaz, 28 January 2013, Column 619W,  

Bill of Rights – Commission’s Report

21 December, 2012

The Commission set up in 2011 to report on the possibility of a UK Bill of Rights published its report yesterday, 18 December. It has not attracted much attention from the media. The report itself runs to 282 pages, which I do not claim to have read in full. I was aware that its terms of reference rather oddly precluded the Commission from considering the possibility of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) but had not previously appreciated that this prohibition was an addition to the terms of reference on which Nick Clegg had insisted.

It is interesting that the report notes that only a quarter or so of those who put in submissions to the Commission were in favour of a UK Bill of Rights. Nevertheless the majority of the members of the Commission, seven out of nine, conclude that there is a strong argument in favour of such a Bill on the basis that it would incorporate and build on the UK’s obligations under the ECHR. Two members wrote their own dissenting conclusions on the main ground that the majority had failed to identify any shortcomings in the Human Rights Act or its application by the courts - a ground which anyone concerned in recent years with the application of the ECHR in numerous major court decisions on asylum and immigration cases must surely find astonishing. They appear also to hint at suspicions that consideration of a UK Bill of Rights may be a way of setting about the process of withdrawing from the ECHR.

To read the full Briefing Paper No 8.68 please click here

Sir Andrew Green's Letter in The Daily Telegraph

Curbing Immigration 

Sir,

I am most grateful for your generous endorsement of Migrationwatch in today’s editorial (“Labour has no right to lecture on immigration”).

Looking ahead, we must recognize that many are shell shocked by the pace of change in our society, now underscored by the census results.  Integrating the nearly three million immigrants who have arrived in the last ten years will be vital to the harmony of our society but this cannot be achieved unless the inflows are brought under control.

That is why, in our view, David Cameron’s historic pledge was - and is – of central importance.   By setting a clear objective he has given direction and coherence to immigration policy.   We now project that he has a fighting chance of achieving it, provided that he sticks to his guns. Special interest groups will, of course, continue to fight their corners but the public interest in getting immigration under control is surely overwhelming.

© Copyright of Sir Andrew Green

Speech by Labour Party Leader, Ed Miliband this morning

Following the speech made this morning by the Labour Party Leader, Ed Miliband, Sir Andrew Green said:

"The steps which Ed Miliband outlined to promote integration are perfectly sensible but there was a glaring gap in his speech - namely his failure to say anything significant about limiting the scale of future immigration. Apparently, he is only going to "look at the whole system". Does he seriously think that we can integrate three million migrants into our community every ten years? Until Labour undertake to place limits on immigration they will not get a hearing from the British public."

Note to editors: The 2011 census reported that 3.8 million people born abroad and resident in the UK arrived into England and Wales in the last ten years.

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