New Poll Indicates Balanced Migration a Vote Winner
Labour and BME voters want much lower immigration
September 8, 2008 

A new poll out today demonstrates there is massive backing for a substantial cut in immigration levels from supporters of all parties and shows that a programme of ‘Balanced Migration’ into the UK could have a major effect on voting intentions in a future election.

The YouGov poll, which the Cross party Group on Balanced Migration asked Migrationwatch to commission, found that were the Conservatives to adopt such a policy - in which the number of people allowed to settle in the UK in any year was broadly similar to those who left - they would be likely to improve their support among a significant number of Labour and Liberal Democrat voters.

81 per cent of Labour voters want to see a substantial reduction in current immigration numbers.  Of those, 36 per cent think that Balanced Migration is about the right level, but the other 45 per cent think even that is too high.

83 per cent of Liberal Democrats want to see much lower immigration.  Of these, 43 per cent support Balanced Migration, while 40 per cent believe the limit should be even lower.

89 per cent of Conservatives want a sharp reduction in immigration.  Of these, 23 per cent support Balanced Migration, while 66 per cent want even tougher limits.

Among BME respondents, 75 per cent wanted much lower immigration, of whom 36 per cent supported Balanced Migration and 39 per cent wanted even tougher limits.

The poll also showed that 33 per cent of the electorate were more likely to vote Conservative if David Cameron were to adopt Balanced Migration as a policy; only 5 per cent would be less likely to support him – a net gain of 28 per cent.

Of Labour voters, 13 per cent would be more inclined to vote Conservative, with 9 per cent less inclined.  24 per cent of Liberal Democrats would be more likely to vote Conservative and 8 per cent less likely.

Commenting, Migrationwatch chairman Sir Andrew Green said:

‘This poll clearly shows that voters from across the board, including the ethnic minorities, strongly support a policy at least as firm as Balanced Migration.  Concern about the present massive uncontrolled level of immigration is not a partisan issue.  I hope that all the political parties will now get the message and engage in a constructive debate about Balanced Migration in the months ahead. 

‘Balanced Migration is the only policy on the table which accommodates both the needs of business and the growing concern of voters about the impact of immigration on our community cohesion, public services and infrastructure.  Our proposals will allow immigrants to work for a limited period, while ending their present almost automatic right to settle.  This policy would eventually stabilise the population of the UK at 65 million by mid-century, as opposed to the 78.6 million now projected.’

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Migrationwatch invited to put forward policy suggestions
September 8, 2008 

Following the evidence which we gave to the Economic Committee of the House of Lords, Migrationwatch were invited by a Cross Party Group of Parliamentarians to put forward suggestions as to how immigration issues should be tackled in a way that took account and also tackles the need to preserve the competitiveness of the economy but also tackled the numbers .

In response, they prepared a policy document which, for the first time brings together in one place the case against the very large scale immigration which has been allowed to develop. The Cross Party Group, which was announced today, accepted the broad lines of the document and will pursue its recommendations.

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A Separate Scottish Immigration System would be “Futile”
September 2, 2008 

Claims that Scotland ‘needs’ large scale immigration because of its declining and ageing population have been strongly refuted in a paper out today from think tank Migrationwatch.

Scotland’s population is not declining as is frequently claimed so substantial immigration is not required to boost the population - neither will it provide an answer to a future pensions problem caused by an aging population, nor provide a major boost to Scotland’s economic performance, says the report….

See full press release

BBC Radio 4 Today Programme
August 26, 2008 

Listen Again to John Humphrys interviewing Sir Andrew Green and Mr Danny Sriskandarajah of the Institute of Public Policy Research, about the IPPR's new report about how immigration benefits Britain.

Draft (Partial) Immigration and Citizenship Bill
September 2, 2008 

The Bill is a draft published on 14 July 2008 to facilitate consultation. Some parts of it are still missing.  The government’s intention is that a Bill be tabled in Parliament in the autumn of 2008. The draft Bill is the next stage in a process initiated by the Border and Immigration Agency (now the UK Border Agency) in June, 2007 when it issued a consultative paper “Simplifying Immigration Law”.  The emphasis in that paper was on simplification rather than consolidation (as explained in Briefing Paper 8.28) and on the introduction of the points based system for the issue of work permits.