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Press Releases for December 2003
December 22, 2003
Credibility of Government immigration figures challenged
December 16, 2003
Asylum Bill measures 'long overdue'
December 1, 2003
Government signing 'blank cheque' over euro immigration and asylum policy...
Full Text of Releases : December 2003
December 22, 2003
Credibility of Government immigration figures challenged
The credibility of the Government's immigration statistics and the use made of them has been questioned in two reports out today from think-tank MigrationWatch.
The first report concerns the population statistics issued by the Government on December 18 which the organisation accuses
them of 'manipulating.'
'There has been a consistent pattern of downward manipulation of the projections which have been seriously wrong for several years. Over the last five years net immigration has been running at 158,000 - yet the Government has assumed a figure of 103,000 going forward - while choosing to ignore policies that can only result in even larger numbers seeking to enter Britain,' said Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of MigrationWatch.
'Our estimate is that a more realistic figure for net inward migration is 170,000 which includes an allowance of 20,000 for failed asylum seekers who stay on but no allowance for those who enter Britain clandestinely or who overstay their visas.'
'Nor have the government made sufficient allowance for the fact that from next May Britain will be the only major EU country whose labour market - and benefits system - will be open to 73 million citizens of Eastern Europe when their countries join the EU. The government have, on their own admission, set in hand a major increase in immigration but they have airbrushed the effects from their projections,' he said.
The second report comes from its analysis of the interim report 'Review of Housing Supply,' published by HM Treasury.
It says that estimates of the shortfall in housing outlined in the report could be only half the true figure as demand was based on seven year old immigration figures.
'While the report dealt primarily with the supply of homes its estimates of demand came from 1996 population projections and were therefore seriously out of date,' said Sir Andrew.
Immigration is now a major factor in the projection of households. In 1996 net immigration was projected at 65,000 per year - accounting for 29,000 of the annual 39,000 shortfall the Review identified.
Using the same statistical basis as the Review team and even using the Government's latest, if flawed, 103,000 figure for net immigration, the extra 38,000 immigrants per year translate into an additional housing requirement of a further 17,000 per year. This increases the shortfall in housing to about 56,000 a year (39+17), or more than one million over twenty years - about 80% of which is due to net inward migration.
As indicated above however even the Government's latest figures could well underestimate the real numbers which Migrationwatch estimate to be 170,000 per year.
If this proves correct, the housing shortfall, again using the methodology of the Review team, would be a further 25,000, boosting the total shortfall to 81,000 a year, 87% due to net immigration - more than double the estimate used by the Review team.
'So it is now official,' said Sir Andrew. 'When the government catch up with the fact that they are using seven year old population projections, they will have to recognise that we will need at least an extra one million homes over the next twenty years and probably considerably more. Most of these will be to house immigrants. Given the inflexibility of housing supply highlighted by the Barker Report, this will put continuing upward pressure on house prices, especially for young people, and it will bring mounting demands for yet more development, particularly in the South East, where most immigrants seek to settle,' he said.
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December 16, 2003
Asylum Bill measures 'long overdue'
In its comments on the Asylum and Immigration Bill think-tank Migrationwatch said the measures were 'long overdue.'
'For too long asylum seekers have been able to exploit every opportunity for delay,' said Chairman, Sir Andrew Green
'The abolition of the Appeals Tribunal could be a major improvement. And it is high time that measures were taken against those who deliberately destroy their documents.
'We recognise that the exclusion of judicial review is very unusual but it
is justified by its constant use as a means of further delay - to the point
of imposing a heavy burden on the High Court and Court of Appeal,'
he said.
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December 1, 2003
Government signing 'blank cheque' over euro immigration and asylum policy...
Britain is in grave danger of signing a 'blank cheque' on immigration and asylum and handing control of this sensitive issue to Europe if current proposals contained in the draft EU Constitution are accepted. This would be a fundamental surrender of national sovereignty on a scale completely unknown in our history.
That is the view of independent think-tank Migrationwatch which, in a
new research paper published on its web site, says that it is clear that at present the Government has achieved virtually nothing in this part of the negotiation. Nearly all of their amendments have been rejected.
Said Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch: 'The Government
are keeping as quiet as possible on this subject - and for good reason. The British delegation have been ignored and we are now expected simply to sign up to European laws which have not yet even been
drafted. When they are they will be subject to Qualified Majority Voting under which we will have less than 10% of the votes.
'It follows that the laws governing the protection of our borders and
the right of foreigners to enter and reside in Britain will no longer be
in our own hands. It is time that the government set out honestly what
is involved.'
Sir Andrew said that no language has been agreed on the preservation
of the "opt out" that permits us to retain our own border controls; Britain has proposed, but not achieved, a complete re-draft of the Article on asylum, and the Article on immigration hands over to European Law issues of great importance and domestic sensitivity which will be decided by Qualified Majority Voting under which Britain has only 29 votes, compared to the 88 required to block an unwelcome proposal.
'Experience to date in dealing with Europe on asylum and immigration matters has not been encouraging,' he said. 'Our European partners have rejected British ideas for exerting EU economic pressure to
achieve repatriation agreements. They have also effectively turned
down suggestions for processing asylum seekers outside the
European Union.'
Sir Andrew said many of the arguments put forward in support of handing over control to Brussels are deeply flawed.
He said the Government claimed that this is a 'European problem' requiring European solutions.
'This is a shallow analysis because the reality is that Britain's situation is entirely different from that of our European partners, demographically, geographically, administratively and historically,' he said.
Some major European countries, such as Italy or Germany have a very low birth rate of about 1.1. In Britain, our birth rate is 1.65 - short of the replacement rate of 2.1 but very different in demographic terms from the situation of Italy or Germany. Sir Andrew said the fact is that our population is not declining. It is set to grow by at least four million over the next 25 years - even on a very cautious assumption about immigration.
Nor is our work force declining. It would continue to increase for the next 20 years, even if there were no immigration at all, mainly because women will work longer. Furthermore, the South East of England where, on present patterns, three quarters of migrants settle is one of the most crowded areas of Europe.
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