Immigration

Is back in the news; reports say that in the last ten years net immigration (the difference between those arriving here and leaving) has averaged 160,000 a year, adding 1.6 million to the population. At this rate our population will reach 70 million before 2030 and the majority of that increase is in England.

Last night Lord Carey of Clifton (the former Archbishop of Canterbury) has signed a statement by the cross-party group on balanced migration and declared that “70 million is too many”. The declaration was put together by Tory MP Nicholas Soames, Labour MP Frank Field and it was also signed by Baroness Boothroyd the former Common’s Speaker plus a small number of MPs. The cross – party parliament manifesto calls for a commitment from all political parties to not allow the population to rise to 70 million, by introducing a population policy with tighter controls, better regulations and management on immigration.

That call is not at all intended to stop people from coming to the UK, but to control, monitor and manage the numbers and to balance migration. And that can only be achieved by knowing who is coming in as well as who is leaving the country and by setting an annual target and limit on these numbers. Immigration is a double edged sword; it is healthy, beneficial and productive on one side, but on the other side kept unwatched and unmanaged it is a burden on the populations’ public services, quality of life and the nature of the society. More so, as now the country is on its knees economically and public services are already very stretched and poorly management.

For a long time now the Conservatives have being calling for tighter controls and a quota on immigration but Labour has refused to consider either. No surprise there! According to Andrew Neather – a former adviser to Number 10 – the huge increases in migrants over the last decade were partly due to a politically motivated attempt by ministers to radically change the country. Now, that explains why changing the current rules will not be in Labour’s best interest. It explains further why the government has continuously argued for immigration on grounds of economic benefits and the need for more migrants. Even further, it explains why this government continued for the past thirteen years to scare the British public into submission by firing the gun of racism and discrimination at anyone who dare speak about the unrealistic number of migrants entering the country. With their action, Labour has cruelly forced the indigenous British and older settlers to feel marginalised and disaffected. It is because of their selfish conspiracy that groups such as the BNP came to prominence, yet the Home Secretary (Alan Johnson) refused to share a panel with Nick Griffin (the leader of the BNP) on Question Time, forgetting that their popularity and success in British Politics is a direct by-product of his governments’ policies.

Apart from the NHS and the Economy, today Immigration is a hot bed and a deal breaker with many voters. It will be foolish to treat it as ‘the untouchable taboo’ and not to discuss it freely and openly. And now that we know why Labour has been shooting down any debate on immigration it will be political suicide to not talk immigration before the coming General Election.