Extracts from correspondence received
The views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Migration Watch UK.
The names of firms mentioned by the writer have been removed by Migrationwatch
Dear Mr. Johnson,
Your call for a more “rational” debate on immigration is mendacious, as well as being too little, too late. The majority of the electorate oppose your government’s immigration policy not because we are ill informed or are so gullible that we have been hoodwinked by the BNP. On the contrary, we oppose it precisely because we can see what the consequences will be if the policy is not overturned as quickly as possible.
I understand that you will be well acquainted with the facts, but for the purpose of illustration I refer you to the following:
- UK population will hit 70m by 2031. Though the Office of National Statistics has now revised this to 70 million by 2029. And it will keep on rising if immigration is not checked.
- White people will be a minority in Britain by the turn of the next century, if not sooner.
- 80 percent of jobs created between 1997 and 2007 were filled by immigrants.
- Almost a quarter of all newborn children are now born to immigrant mothers.
You’ll notice that none of these stories come from dubious or extremist sources, they are all from the national press – including left-leaning publications such as The Guardian and The Independent.
I voted New Labour in 1997 because I wanted the country to be fairer than it had been under the Tories. I wanted wealth to be more evenly distributed, public services to be better funded and the tone of politics to be less strident and jingoistic than it had been under the Thatcher and, to some extent, the Major administrations. I voted for you again in 2001. In 2005 I did not vote. I did not vote, because at no point in either of the preceding manifestos had you mentioned a policy of unrestricted mass immigration that was intended to transform the country: yet by voting for the Labour Party that was clearly what I was endorsing. I do not hate anyone and am not completely opposed to either immigration or multi-culturalism. But nor do I wish my country which, for all its faults, I love, to be completely and irreversibly transformed around me.
Until your party adopts a policy of balanced immigration, such as that advocated by the Cross-Party Group on Balanced Migration, I will not vote for you again. If I can find a credible and non-extremist political pressure group that opposes the current immigration policy then I will campaign against your party at the next election. I understand that, because of our EU obligations, we cannot limit the number of immigrants from EU countries (at least not now that the government has abandoned its opt-out). However, based on 2007 figures which are the latest I can find, simply by reducing the number of non-EU immigrants by 80% annual net immigration would fall to -23,000. So it is possible to achieve balanced migration for the UK if the political will is there.
November 2009Thank you Migration Watch for highlighting the ongoing difficulties with the 'out of control process' for dealing with immigration. The rate of change is having a significant effect on most areas of British society, with overstretched resources trying to cope in the NHS, Education, Housing, and law enforcement services. Why this (and previous) government has failed to grasp what most UK citizens have recognised for years as an unsatisfactory situation, begs belief. It would appear to most, that MPs of all Parties (with the odd exception) are only concerned with there own well being and that of the party. Not as it should be, for concern of Country and the people that they represent.
Migrants will change local culture and that is fact. Generally, it is human nature to want to be housed in close proximity to where others of a similar background live. This is not rocket science, just plain common sense. It was to be seen in past times that races tend to live and congregate together, just look at the Empire histories of English, French, Belgium, German and Dutch nations in the 1900 century, not to mention the Huguenots, Irish, Jewish and Asian migrants into East London. The faster the influx of migrants into an area, the faster the local culture will change and the need to adequately resource and deal with these changes is essential for the wellbeing of all social groups.
Recent history shows us what serious social problems occur when numbers of migrants move into an area within a short space of time. Change is good, but the rate of change must be controlled for the benefit of all People. I do not blame or hold those migrants responsible for moving to the UK, they were just trying to better themselves. On a small scale, similar to me having to leave my London home in the 70's in an attempt to continue maintaining my family's quality of life. It was and is the responsibility of our politicians to 'Effectively' control and maintain levels of migration into the UK such that adequate provision of all services occurs at a pace which can support the attendant needs of our Nation at any given level of migration. Currently for all to see, dismally failing.
Natural evolutionary change is good, unfortunately with global pressures, economic migrants, legal and illegal immigration issues are ever on the increase. This must force all countries to look at ways of properly managing these pressures in a way that secures the quality of life for their indigenous populations. At present I can see little hope of the UK parliament having the resolve to 'Effectively', speedily address and deal with one of the most important concerns that is facing the whole of UK, that of controlling the excessive number of migrants into this country from Europe and Asia.
Thank goodness for Sir Andrew Green in raising the migration issues. Carry one the good work.
October 2009I like your website very much because you bring this very important issue to the public attention in a calm and measured way and the scrolling feed on the homepage has something new to read almost everyday.
I live in Stonehouse, Plymouth which has traditionally been considered one of the poorest parishes in the UK. It is an area of flats and bedsits adjacent to the city centre and over the last five years has changed immeasurably. There has been a huge influx of immigrants, the local library and hospital are always overflowing with foreigners and there is now a drive-in car wash 50 metres from my flat which produces noise six days a week from the power hoses etc and employs only immigrants. I say this because I think many people who live in suburban or rural areas do not feel the pressure and see the change first hand and therefore disregard it.
I have a degree of understanding of economics and the welfare system and am convinced that Tax Credits, Child Allowance and free social provision of medical service and schooling mean that the bulk of immigrants take more out of the economy than they put in, because most are unskilled and therefore do not pay much in taxes or contribute high value or skills to the economy. I believe a lot of people do not realise the above because it is hidden by the complexity of the benefits system.
Good work, good website!
July 2009Thank you for your continued efforts to keep immigration at the forefront of the political agenda. Politicians are not directly affected by mass immigration, protected as they are behind their ivory towers and sweeping lawns, which is why they brush the issue under the carpet. Those who do put their heads above the parapet are denounced as 'racist'. The term trips off the tongue, easily: as does the word 'multiculturalism'. Words I had never heard before Labour came to power. English people are now referred to as 'White British', which is a term I find deeply offensive.
Politicians sit idly by and watch our country being destroyed by mass immigration. Perhaps if they had to compete for their jobs against hundreds and thousands of newcomers, they might not be so cavalier about the rights of the indigenous population. The next General Election may focus their minds!
Sir Andrew Green is the champion of all right-minded English citizens. All we want is to protect our culture, and restore balance. Our beautiful British Isles will cease to be unless someone has the courage to stand up and say Britain is full up now: we have no more room. Try somewhere else.
June 2009"Having read the recent press articles about the numbers of non EU work permits being issued, I would like to comment on my own experiences over the past 10 years.
I'm a self employed IT specialist, working mainly in the banking and financial field, and although extremely experienced, and finding it more difficult to find work because of the ease with which UK employers can recruit overseas staff.
For example, my last contract was with ……., from June to November 2008. During that period, dozens of staff were being brought into the ……… IT centre from 2 Indian IT consultancies; ostensibly to "augment IT provision ", but actually to reduce costs, as they were replacing UK based staff who were having their contracts terminated, or not renewed. Dozens more jobs were going offshore. This is an excerpt from an email regarding this:- "Although the MTC provide both onshore and offshore based resource, as a general rule we must look to offshore work wherever possible because it is considerably more cost effective to do so. However, it is accepted that during pilot exercises it may be necessary to utilise onshore resource to begin with (e.g. for knowledge transfer purposes) and move toward an offshore model at the soonest possible opportunity thereafter." When one looks at the quality of the overseas staff, it astounds me that a work permit can be issued. Most of them are in their mid 20's, with little or no practical IT experience. Working for an IT consultancy doesn't make you an IT expert! Having said that, it is apparent that their employers simply throw bodies at vacancies, regardless of the actual expertise of the staff provided. This has been borne out on every project I've worked on since first encountering this at ………… in 1999, when the offshore IT consultants were thrown off the project after 18 months, and non delivery of any software.
Another example of the lack of skills was in 2005, when …………. brought 8 IT specialists in a particular software testing tool for a 2 month contract. They were described as specialists with "lots of experience", but it was apparent after their arrival that this was not the case. None of them had used the software; 2 had difficulty with basic PC skills, and all admitted that the only expertise in the software had been a 2 day induction course before being put on the plane!
While this may read as sour grapes, I'm perfectly happy to compete on cost, expertise, etc., but I cannot compete with someone earning the equivalent of £5,000 p.a. One wonders how the minimum wage applies in these cases? The other major problem now affecting UK based freelance IT staff is the legislation that means that before I can start a contract I have to
(a) provide full employment history for the previous 5 years - any gaps of more than 2 weeks (including holidays) have to be accounted for in a statement signed by a solicitor
(b) employment references covering the past 3 years
(c) a full credit check
While the above help to prove that I'm indeed who I say I am; what checks are carried out on those people brought in from overseas, many on short term contracts? It's certainly not a level playing field when it comes to recruitment, as the paperwork seems to be a lot simpler when bring in overseas staff. The ………….case above had the staff recruited on site in under 2 weeks. I've also noticed that overseas staff brought in to work at say ………., are also working at ……… - I thought that was against the rules as well! I also thought that firms had to prove they can't recruit locally before hiring overseas staff - again, this doesn't appear to be borne out in my experience, as managers often quote the reason for using overseas IT consultancies is the cost!"
January 2009Migration Watch has done a wonderful job in bringing the subject of immigration into the political arena, particularly in the face of so much malignant abuse and personal attacks. There is no doubt that the forces that destroyed Enoch Powell would have dealt with Sir Andrew Green had he not maintained a strict apolitical stance, and a rigorous policy of publishing only demonstrable facts and figures. This I appreciate.
But, it seems to me that the whole mass immigration strategy has been devised to destroy the English as a nation, and as an ethnic group, by submerging them under foreign immigrants. Presently, masses of English are emigrating, to be replaced by foreigners; particularly foreigners from outside the EU. This situation is exacerbated by the birth rate of ethnic minorities outstripping that of the indigenous population. England's enemies will, of course, endorse Balanced Migration when it puts the same value on say, 10,000 Rumanian gypsy immigrants, as 10,000 English emigrants.
Surely the question of immigration goes deeper than just mere numbers and, despite the inevitable cries of 'fascist', 'nazi', and 'racist', this issue should be brought into the debate.
September 2008Personally I'd be very unsympathetic to the notion of a "Balanced" policy, equating the number on their way in to those going out.
The sheer level of inward immigration has already caused and will continue to cause profound cultural changes in the UK, not least because of the higher birth rates within immigrant communities.
We need to put a brake on immigration, not continue it which a balanced policy would allow. The majority of emigrants will be white British and he overwhelming influx will be Asian and African.
That will doubtless sound racist to you but I'm afraid that despite the fact that as a young man I helped out at organisations such as the Anti Apartheid Group, my opinions now are far less tolerant than I would have hoped, primarily because I feel that this country has been taken for granted, not least by the current government.
There's always a lot of reference to the Australian system. The Singaporean system is also a model worth adopting. There incoming workers are given a period for which they are allowed to stay, and are required to undergo a health check as a condition of their residence. I went through that process, and felt it was eminently fair.
September 2008The term "water water everywhere but not a drop to drink" comes to mind when I think of the situation my family and I are in.
I live in Swindon. A prosperous town, where in the last decade or so we have been able to say we have no unemployment: - That being that the only reason you would not be working is because you don't want to.
I have always gone along with this, as I never really knew anyone who didn't have a job.
Now though, is a different story.
Swindon is going through a major development. The 70's monstrosities the town has always been criticised for are being knocked down to make way for a more 'cultural' town. On one road alone we have 10 major building developments going on and countless numbers of housing developments.
So with this in mind, I ask why has my husband - a bricklayer who came to Swindon from the north because of the abundance of work 8 years ago has had to go to another country for work? Why has my dad, a reputable carpenter and joiner for more than 30 years had to cut his wages in half and go 'begging for work'? Why is my brother struggling to make his mortgage payments because he now only gets 3 full days of work on site?
Yes, there is a credit crunch going on in the country. I work in the financial industry. I am reminded every day about how less people are buying houses at the moment - but the situation would be a lot more self healing if there wasn't the issue of immigrant workers overtaking and under cutting the local workers on site.
I'm not going to say all immigration is bad. I come from an Irish family. My dad's family came to Swindon during the war and my mum came here from Ireland to be with my dad. All my family experienced the "no Irish need apply" welcome to the country. Times where hard for them. But they persevered, they worked hard. No one in my family ever claimed benefits and everyone owns their own house. In short, they invested back in to the country and they have raised us to be well educated, successful, hard working and thoughtful.
Because of this history I have always been open minded about immigration. My mum constantly reminding me of how hard it was for her coming here. However, in the last few years my opinion has swayed. I can no longer see the benefit of more people coming here. In my experience, they are draining and not investing in the country. I live in an area that a couple of years ago was being hailed as an up and coming area of the town, with young professional first time buyers moving in and starting families. This has now stopped. The housing has been bought up by Asian families who have rented the 2 up 2 downs to uncounted number of eastern Europeans, Africans and Asians.
A house 3 doors away houses 11 people while they send the money they are earning in the town back home to build houses in their country.
On a more personal note. My husband and I are trying to start a family. A family that would be taught the value of education, hard work and decent behaviour. That will bring value to the town. But we can't while he's not here. In the mean time. Mr and Mrs Immigrant are living in a free house with kids who are putting extra demands on the already struggling public services.
The gates need to be closed. No one can blame people for wanting to come here. We give houses and money away for free. It's a fantasy land for someone coming from the hardships of their countries. If I knew I would get a free, brand new house and regular money for doing nothing, in Albania - I'd be straight on the plane! In many cases even the most dire living conditions in this country are better than what they would be living in their homeland. But that should be an issue for their government and not ours.
The credit crunch plus lack of employment is a recipe for a complete disaster. Maybe if it gets so bad, these immigrants will go home. But it could be too late for us.
I can say for absolute sure, that there are NOT enough jobs to go round for skilled construction workers. Not in the north, south, east or west of the UK. I can say this because working along side my husband are people from all of these regions. All for the same reason - cheaper immigrant workers are taking their jobs. People who can afford to work for less because they are essentially still part of their home countries economy and not the economy in the UK. £1 goes a lot further where they come from.
Contrary to claims - there are now NOT enough jobs to go around. The country's financial instability is now becoming more apparent and many industries are feeling the brunt. It's this that is increasing the popularity of cheaper workers. But it's a false means to an end. Yes they are earning the money, but they are not buying the good that these industries produce.
So money is going out and not coming back in.
I am not saying stop immigration all together either. But we would be fools to not ask people to prove their value and be placed in a part of the country that needs them. We should also be more forceful about what they do with this money they earn. There should be an extra immigrant tax for the first couple of years when they come here. After all I have to pay extra tax when I only go on holiday to other countries!
If the situation does not improve, my husband and I will leave this country and take our skills and experience elsewhere. We will raise children who will bring value and pride to another country. We will remove our money from the British economy and buy a house and pay our taxes to another government. And we will never be part of the UK again. Leaving a nice little gap in the land for an immigrant family to come and take what they want.
I'm not saying that immigration is this town's only problem either. I also have my thoughts about the British people being allowed to rely on the benefit system ......... but before we sort that lot out we need to sort the people who shouldn't even be here first.
June 2008Many congratulations to Sir Andrew Green and Migration Watch for kick-starting and making respectable the vital debate on immigration, leading to the Lords Select Committee's report today.
At last the nonsense of Government claims is being exposed, at last the reality that it is GDP per head, not total GDP that matters, at last the reality that the work immigrants do hardly covers the costs of their being here - especially the cost of providing housing for them - is being publicly exposed. I doubt that any government in history has been as innumerate as this one - and their many errors have cost us dear.
None of this would have been possible without your efforts, for which we must be very grateful indeed.
April 2008I live in Hackney South and as an indigenous English person, I am shocked to find that I am in a minority. Although there are people from many foreign cultures living side by side in the constituency, my experience is that each culture does not tend to adopt a multicultural attitude, but instead wishes to remain within their own cultural enclaves only emerging from them for economic reasons. For instance, many members of the immigrant communities that I have met in the constituency appear not to feel the need to develop their English language skills or be interested in English culture in any way beyond that which enables them to benefit economically.
This is not the idealistic 'melting pot' of multiculturalism, but instead a 'salad bowl' of communities trying to maintain the identity of the culture from which they have emigrated at the expense of the indigenous English culture. I strongly object to the lack of honesty by the present government in admitting that there is a problem that needs addressing.
January 2008
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