Migration Watch UK: News

New Immigration Rules

2012-02-04T20:15:10+00:00

Interview with migrationwatch UK on Damian Green’s new #Immigration Rules. youtube.com/watch?v=8eNI13…

ONS released further population projections

2012-02-01T17:13:22+00:00

Today, the ONS released further population projections based on varying net migration estimates.

"These latest official projections underline the huge importance of the government keeping to its promise to get net migration down below 100,000. Even at 100,000 these figures show that our population will reach 70 million in less than 25 years with all the consequences that has for our overcrowded island."

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

2012-01-10T14:17:23+00:00

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

2012-01-09T18:42:17+00:00

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.

Taxpayer Funds £1m a week UK Visitor Appeals Process - ‘Outrageously Generous System’ Must End Says Think Tank

2011-12-13T00:15:00+00:00

The present situation, in which anyone refused a visa to visit family in the UK can appeal at no expense to themselves, is now costing the UK taxpayers some £50m a year and must be brought to an end immediately, says think tank Migration Watch UK in a report (Briefing Paper No 1.31) out today.

All charges for appeals against the refusal of a visa were abolished by the Labour Government in 2002 - since then the number of appeals has increased six fold to nearly a thousand a week - at a weekly cost of £1m.

‘At a time of severe financial stringency for UK families it is an outrageously generous system which taxpayers should no longer be expected to fund,’ said Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch. ‘It should be stopped immediately, the definition of “family visitor” tightened, charges reintroduced and consideration given to bonds to ensure people actually leave at the end of their visit. We hope that the government’s measures to be announced next week will deal with these issues.’

He said that the definition of family visitor is so wide that it could include as many as 120 relatives of a middle aged person in Britain. And a "family visitor" can generally appeal against refusal even if the applicant intends to do something else also during the trip as the legislation does not specify that visiting a family member has to be the sole or primary purpose of the trip.

Said Sir Andrew. ‘The government have at last seemed to realise that it is ludicrous and grossly unfair that taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for foreign citizens who wish to visit Britain. In these straightened times there are much better uses for our money.’

He said that because of the well known inadequacies of the UK’s immigration system - in particular, its failure to record departures and poor record in removing people with no right to be here - there is a strong suspicion that this method is also used as yet another route to staying on illegally in Britain.

Sir Andrew said that of particular concern was the rapid growth of applications from certain countries. In 2006 India, Pakistan and Nigeria produced over ¼ million applications - up by a factor of 16 over a period of four years. 175,000 were approved. The numbers have remained high; in 2010 applications from these three countries totalled 196,000 of which 151,000 were approved. The worldwide total in 2010 was 423,000 of which 338,000 were approved.

‘The whole issue of immigration and asylum was so ineptly handled by the previous administration that it will inevitably take time to reverse some of its most woeful decisions but this must surely be one of the easier ones to accomplish and should be a high priority for Ministers,’ said Sir Andrew.

Think-Tank had Immigration Figures Spot on Almost 10 Years Ago

2011-11-28T00:30:00+00:00

Figures just out show that the number of migrants coming to Britain in the decade ending next year was correctly predicted by think tank Migration Watch – almost 10 years ago.

In 2002 the then newly launched organisation warned that "on current trends we can now expect a net inflow to Britain of at least two million non-EU citizens per decade". The prediction made clear that this included an estimate of 60,000 per year for illegal immigrants of various kinds.

The latest figures (Annex A) show just how telling that prediction was with a total of net non-EU immigration between mid year 2002/03 and mid year 2009/10 of 1.679 million - or over 200,000 a year - and this is without an allowance for illegal immigration.

Said Sir Andrew Green, Migration Watch UK chairman: ‘The latest official statistics demonstrate very clearly that, in addition to just over half a million immigrants from the EU, net non-EU immigration is absolutely on course to hit two million in 10 years as we predicted in August 2002.

‘At the time our projections were met with howls of derision - and often abuse – by the immigration ‘industry,’ particularly in the left wing press,’ he said.‘They tried very hard to denigrate our research and rubbish our findings with accusations that were thinly disguised but clearly meant to imply a racist agenda,’ he said.

‘In fact our figures and predictions have been consistently accurate since our formation, however much they have tried to pretend otherwise.’

An example of the opprobrium heaped upon Migration Watch was this editorial in the Independent on August 6, 2002: "Most offensive of all is the choice of name, a grotesque echo of such groups as Human Rights Watch, with the implication that it is keeping a watch on Ministers who sneakily disguise the true extent of immigration. Migrationwatch UK is a nasty little outfit, and its duplicitous research should be treated with the gravest suspicion. The group deserves to fail; sadly in the current climate, it will continue to be given the oxygen of publicity".

An article in the Guardian of 7 August 2002 was entitled "A swamp of muddled thinking". It described the figure of two million as flawed, both in its composition and its assumptions.

It gives us no pleasure to see that we were right as we have indeed seen the largest wave of immigration in our history, with no public consultation, explanation or coherent justification,’ he said. ‘It is now abundantly clear that the public do not share the enthusiasm for the mass immigration that has changed parts of the UK beyond recognition and has, in many cases, weakened community cohesion.

Said Sir Andrew: ‘It is shameful that the political system was intimidated for so long by false innuendo from the Left about racism. As a result, three million immigrants were admitted by the previous government between 1997 and 2010 while one million British citizens left the UK. All this took place without proper debate and in flat contradiction to the wishes of the British people. Nowadays the public are clear that enough is enough and they can, at last, express their view by signing our “No to 70 million” petition on the Downing Street website.

Comment on Latest Net Migration Figure

2011-11-24T11:50:45+00:00

ONS data released this morning shows that net migration in 2010 reached 252,000, the highest calendar year on record. Commenting Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:

“At over a quarter of a million in 2010, net migration was the highest it has ever been. It was more than five times the level of 1997 when Labour came to power. It is absolutely vital to get this down to less than 40,000 if we are to keep our population below 70 million.”

ONS Data Confirms UK Population to Hit 80 Million by 2056

2011-11-24T11:05:38+00:00

Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:

“ONS data todays confirms the shocking fact that the UK population is projected to hit 80 million by 2056, overtaking Germany in the process – despite having far less space – to become the most populous nation in the EU. We must get net migration down to below 40,000 to stabilise our population below 70 million. Anyone who suggests that net migration of 150,000 will do has simply not looked at the facts.”

Briefing Paper No 9.31 demonstrates the population projections based on differing net migration figures.

Government Decision to Extend Transitional Controls for Romanian and Bulgarian Workers

2011-11-23T16:37:53+00:00

Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:

“This is absolutely the right decision. With 2.5 million people unemployed, it would be absurd to open our borders yet again to more unskilled workers. “

Notes to Editors:

In 2006, the population of Romanian and Bulgarians nationals was just under 30,000. In the year ending December 2010, this figure had risen to over 130,000.

ONS Population by Country of Birth:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-219297

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-222711

Government Housing Proposals

2011-11-21T14:48:32+00:00

Commenting on the housing proposals unveiled by the government, Sir Andrew Green said:

"An astonishing aspect of the housing debate is the deafening silence on the impact of immigration. The extra 16,000 houses promised by the government today will meet less than a quarter of the annual demand from new immigrant households. One good way to tackle the housing crisis would be to reduce immigration to a sensible level."

2008 based Household Projections (p.8):

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/statistics/pdf/1780763.pdf