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Press Releases for October 2004
October 28, 2004
The Impact of the EU Constitution on asylum and immigration
October 12, 2004
Immigration increase raises housing demand by m
October 4, 2004
Two million population increase each decade through immigration
Full Text of Releases : October 2004
October 28, 2004
The Impact of the EU Constitution on asylum and immigration
The EU Constitution will be the end of any serious attempt to control our own borders. This is the conclusion of a report by think tank MigrationwatchUK issued today.
The report pulls together in one document the complex issues surrounding the future management of asylum and immigration under the EU Constitution to be signed by EU leaders on Friday.
The story so far is crystal clear, said Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of MigrationwatchUK. Our EU partners have simply ignored our views on this subject, knowing that we have an opt out. Having now signed away our veto, our influence on the outcome will be negligible. Talk of shaping Europes policy is just a pipe dream. As migration flows escalate, the EU is cantering off towards chaos and we will be dragged behind, all protests muffled by a huge pile of legislation.
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October 12, 2004
Immigration increase raises housing demand by m
Future demand for housing in the UK is likely to be nearly 750,000 more than Government plans as the rapid increase in immigration is set to raise the population to record levels.
When the last Government forecast of housing need was published in 2000 based on 1996 population projections they showed the number of households increasing by 19% to 24million.
But, says a report out today from think tank Migrationwatch this was based on a net migration rate of 65,000 a year. The actual rate so far has been double that.
As a result, figures issued by the Government Actuary a few days ago, and analysed by the group, show that the assumption for migration has had to be raised to 130,000 per year double the assumption made in the household projections.
This is far more significant than it looks, said Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK.Current housing plans allow for three-quarters of a million houses for immigrants. It is now clear that twice that number will be needed. This total of one and a half million houses needed for immigrants amounts to about one third of the total number of new homes required in the planning period up to 2021, he said.
But in addition Migrationwatch believe that the population projections themselves make very conservative assumptions about migration. In the last five years immigration has, in fact, averaged 158,000 nearly 30,000 more than the official projections which will inevitably lead to even further demand for housing, if continued at this level. None of these numbers takes any account of illegal immigrants who, on the governments own admission, run into hundreds of thousands.
The present government have triggered large-scale immigration on the basis of dubious economic arguments and without thinking through the consequences for housing, public services and the environment, said Sir Andrew.
This is not about dry statistics; it directly impacts on the quality of life of everyone in the country and on our environment. England is already the second most crowded country in Europe and, since much of the new development is expected to be in the South East, it will have a major impact on congestion in this region.
Given these realities, it is no surprise that today's conference on Diversity and Prosperity, at which the Minister for Immigration will be giving a keynote address, puts housing at the very bottom of the agenda. It should be at the top, he said.
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October 4, 2004
Two million population increase each decade through immigration
Official forecasts just issued by the Government Actuarys Department suggest that immigration is likely to add at least six million to our population over the next three decades, says a new report from think tank MigrationWatch.
Earlier efforts by the government to reduce immigration estimates to make them fit a flawed census have now been abandoned.
The official principal projection is now based on an immigration assumption of 130,000 a year. This is still well below the average of the past five years (which is 158,000) and it makes no allowance for recent government policies designed to stimulate immigration. Even so, according to the official figures, the population of the UK, already the highest in our history, is projected to increase by 6.1 million between 2003 and 2031. 84%, or 5.2 million, will be due to new immigrants and their descendants.
However, Migrationwatch believe (and the Statistics Commissioner agrees) that these projections make inadequate allowance for failed asylum seekers. Its own correction for that gives an immigration assumption of 145,000 a year. This would cause an increase in population of 5.75 million over 28 years or an average increase of two million per decade purely attributable to immigration.
Even this estimate takes no account whatever of illegal immigration. About 50,000 people a year are detected attempting to enter Britain illegally. If a similar number succeed (a low estimate) a further half million should be added each decade (or more if allowance is made for their descendants).
An internal Home Office email, which they were obliged to release to the group recently, read as follows:
| I have made this point many times before but can we please stop saying that Migrationwatch forecasts are wrong. I have pointed out before that Migrationwatch assumptions are often below the Government Actuarys Department high migration variant. (29 July 2003) |
This is still the case. The current high migration variant (scenario) would lead to a population increase by 2031 of 7.8 million, of which approximately 6.8million (87%) would be due to immigration and even that figure contains no allowance for illegal immigrants.
Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said: Migrationwatch were viciously attacked two years ago when we issued an estimate of two million immigrants every ten years. It is now clear that this is a conservative estimate. The government should explain why they have stimulated massive levels of immigration without consulting the British people and how and when they propose to bring it to an end. They claim to be building the economy. In reality they are building the population and building congestion. They are also flying in the face of 80% of public opinion.
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