NEWS DIGEST 04: 8TH JULY 2009

01. Government breaks link between migration and settlement

On 2 June, in her last appearance at the Dispatch Box as Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith MP unexpectedly announced a major change in government policy on immigration. Introducing the 2nd Reading of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill in the House of Commons, she said “Requiring migrants to earn citizenship will, for the first time, mean that there is no automatic link, as was mentioned earlier, between coming to the UK to work or study and settling here permanently. I believe that breaking that link is an important new stage in our reform of immigration.”

This is the first time that the Government has talked about breaking the link between coming to work in Britain and the almost automatic right that migrants have currently to settle here. The Cross Party Group has been campaigning for this launch since the Group’s launch last September.

This policy was then included in the Government’s policy document, Building Britain’s Future, which said: “we will now require newcomers to earn the right to stay, extending the Points Based System to probationary citizenship and controlling the number of people getting settlement.”

While a significant and welcome step, this alone will not be nearly enough to stop immigration adding 7 million to our population in the next twenty years. To stop the population hitting 70 million, net immigration must be reduced to 50,000 a year from the present level of 237,000. The Government’s current policies would reduce immigration to about 217,000. The Conservatives are relying on a cap on work permits but have not yet said what it will be. However, even if they go back to the level of work permits of the early 1990s, their policy would only reduce net immigration to about 172,000.

The press release from the Cross Party Group can be found here.

02. All private sector jobs created under Labour have gone to foreign workers

Since 1997, looking at people of working age, all jobs created in the private sector have been taken up by foreign born workers. The number of UK born workers in the private sector actually fell by nearly 90,000 between the first quarter of 1997 and the first quarter of 2009. A third of new public sector jobs also went to non-UK born workers.

The press release can be found here.

03. Unemployment hitting British born workers harder than those born overseas

New jobs figures show that unemployment is hitting British born workers harder than those born overseas. In Q1 2008 – Q1 2009, the number of UK born people in employment fell by 451,000 and the number of non-UK born people in work rose by 129,000.

The number of non-UK born people in employment has risen by more than 50 per cent in the last six years, from 2.5 million in Q1 2003 to 3.8 million in Q1 2009.

The press release can be found here.

04. Four million new households by 2021: one will be formed every 2 minutes

The recent report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission on migration and social housing needs to be set in the context of official figures which show that the Government has consistently revised upwards its projection for the number of new households that there will be in England in 2021. The projected figure will rise from 21.52 million (2006) to 25.44 million in 2021 – that is four million in 15 years. Over the past three years, the Government has revised up its forecasts by 1.5 million.

This means one new household will be formed every two minutes.

According to Government forecasts, 70% of the population increase up to 2031 will be due to immigration. In addition, the largest single reason for household formation is immigration, which will account for almost 40% of all new household formation in England, equivalent to a new household every five minutes for future immigrants.

The press release can be found here.

05. 92 per cent of immigration has been to England

92 per cent of immigration has been to England, twenty times more than went to Scotland, according to new research based on official statistics. The Government’s figures also revealed that 95 per cent of projected population growth will be in England.

England absorbed some 20 times more international migrants than Scotland, even though the population of England is only ten times larger than Scotland. England took 11 times more than Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland combined, even though its population is only five times bigger.

The press release can be found here.

06. Poll shows voters in EU elections cared more about immigration than NHS and crime

Following the European elections on 4 June, at which two BNP MEPs were elected to the European Parliament for the first time, Migrationwatch commissioned a YouGov poll on behalf of the Cross Party Group. The poll showed that 35 per cent of voters listed immigration as an issue that most influenced their decision, above the NHS, crime, education and the environment.

The press release can be found here.

More information

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT www.balancedmigration.com