Welcome to the Migrationwatch uk website & editorial blog site

We are an independent, voluntary, non political body which is concerned about the present scale of immigration into the UK.
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WHAT THEY SAY

People didn't believe the authorities knew what they were doing and there's a very good reason for that - they didn't.
Phil Woolas, Immigration Minister, reported in The Sun
(21 October, 2008)

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.
An internal Home Office email they were obliged to release to MigrationWatch
(29 July, 2003)

SIX KEY FACTS

Net immigration has quadrupled since 1997 to 237,000 a year.

A migrant now arrives nearly every minute.

We must build a new home every six minutes for new migrants.

England is already the most crowded country in Europe (except Malta)

Immigration will add 7 million to the population of England in the next 20 years - that is 7 times the population of Birmingham.

To keep the population of the UK below 70 million, immigration must be reduced by 75%. Government measures so far may reduce it by 5%.

A selection of recent media reports

Fewer British Jobs for British Workers
The video about the impact of immigration on British Workers starts at 18:50/59:26
BBCTV The Politics Show 28 June, 2009 (03-Jul-2009)
Migrant squalor in Calais 'jungle'
BBC Paris Correspondent On a slip road close to the port of Calais in northern France, a group of dusty Afghan men are h...
BBC News (02-Jul-2009)
Calais advice centre for asylum seekers gets just FOUR inquiries a day
A United Nations mission offering asylum advice to British-bound migrants in Calais has had only four inquiries a day si...
Daily Mail (02-Jul-2009)
The Big Question: Why is the UN setting up in Calais and can it resolve the refugee problem?
Why are we asking this now? The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is formally establishing a full-ti...
The Independent (02-Jul-2009)
Farm raid nets 12 suspect workers
About 50 UK Border Agency officials and police officers raided Merryfield Farm, near Crediton, just before 0700 BST. It ...
BBC News UK (01-Jul-2009)
People protectionism
Rich countries respond to the economic downturn by trying to limit the flow of...
Economist (01-Jul-2009)
Thinking local: social housing changes
What's on offer? Ministers say they want to give local people greater priority on social lists that includes council an...
Guardian.co.uk (01-Jul-2009)
Vicar is arrested for 'organising 180 sham weddings for illegal immigrants'
A vicar has been arrested on suspicion of organising 180 sham weddings for illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe, it em...
Daily Mail (01-Jul-2009)
Immigrants take 70% of UK jobs
More than seven in 10 jobs created under the Labour government have been taken by foreign workers, according to a new re...
Personneltoday.com (01-Jul-2009)
Labours U-turn on social housing for non-immigrants is welcome but too late
Rod Liddle says that metropolitan liberal ideology is too deeply ingrained in local councils, social services and the ju...
The Spectator (01-Jul-2009)
Stick to your remit, MPs tell human rights watchdog
MPs warned a human rights watchdog yesterday to stick to its brief and keep out of a debate on further devolution. The w...
The Scotsman (01-Jul-2009)
British jobs for foreign workers: Experts reveal 70% of new jobs taken by migrants
More than seven out of ten jobs created under the Labour Government have been taken by foreign-born workers, experts rev...
Daily Mail (01-Jul-2009)
Last rites for ID cards read by Johnson
Britons will no longer be required to register for identity cards, says Home...
The Independent (01-Jul-2009)
£5BN CHAOS AS LABOUR RETREATS ON ID CARDS
GORDON Brown performed his most spectacular U-turn yet yesterday by scrapping Labour s £5billion compulsory identity car...
Daily Express (01-Jul-2009)
Like the rest of our myopic political elite, Mr Cameron should tell us whether - and how - he will deal with immigration..
For more than ten years, this newspaper and many of its columnists have been pointing out that immigration has been risi...
Daily Mail (01-Jul-2009)
A decent start but the Tories must be bolder
It's been a painfully long time coming, but at last the Tories have given the country a clear outline of how they will t...
Daily Mail (30-Jun-2009)
New British £750 million electronic border control plan 'breaks EU law'
Britains multi-million pound electronic borders project breaches European data protection laws and the free movement of ...
Times Online (30-Jun-2009)
At last, the truth about immigration and council house queue jumping .
The Government's announcement yesterday that they are handing councils new powers to give local people priority on the w...
The Daily Mail (30-Jun-2009)
E-borders 'travel chaos' warning
New electronic border controls being brought in by the government could cause chaos for travellers, the Commons home aff...
BBC News Political Edition (30-Jun-2009)
Report finds overseas staff take unpopular jobs but lack respect and recognition
Migrant care workers face pay discrimination, service user hostility and a lack of government recognition, despite the s...
Community Care (30-Jun-2009)

Press Releases


Surge in Remittances Points to Sharp Rise in Illegal Immigrants from Pakistan

July 2, 2009

The number of illegal immigrants from Pakistan in the UK could be as high as 200,000 according to a new report out today which has compared official statistics on the number of Pakistani born workers with a dramatic increase in the level of remittances being sent to that country.

An examination of workers remittances shows that they are now more than six times higher than in 2001 but, according to the Government’s Labour Force Survey, the number of Pakistani born workers in Britain has risen by only 67%, says the report from think tank Migrationwatch…

Full Press Release


Migrationwatch comment on GLA report on illegal immigration issued today.

June 16, 2009

'These are very expensive proposals which would only make a bad situation worse. On the report’s own figures they would cost £300m in bureaucracy and £3m a week in benefits (our figure is £10m a week. See also Briefing Paper 11.11 - The True Cost of an Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants). It would also cost £6bn to provide the extra social housing needed.

Worse still, it would encourage still further illegal immigration as other countries have found. Italy has granted five amnesties in the last twenty years and Spain six; on virtually every occasion there were more applications each time. The report has no answer to this. it just remarks that it would only happen if border controls were ineffective.

But that is exactly the position we still face. We issue two million visas a year and there will be no full checks on departure until 2014, obviously, those granted an amnesty would be replaced at the drop of a hat.

The public have the common sense to see this. Our opinion poll showed seventy per cent opposed to an amnesty.

The recent European elections must surely be a lesson to the political class that they can no longer ride roughshod over public opinion with absurd, expensive and self-defeating proposals such as these. It seems that Boris Johnson is trying to buy the immigrant vote with taxpayer's money. They will know how to respond to this.'

Press Articles


At last, the truth about immigration and council house queue jumping

By Andrew Green
The Daily Mail, London, 30 June, 2009

The Government's announcement yesterday that they are handing councils new powers to give local people priority on the waiting list for social housing is a clear admission that they have been misleading us over the huge impact of immigration on housing.

For years, they have been in total denial, refusing even to discuss how immigration has affected the supply of housing.

Now, at last, they have acknowledged that this is an issue which must be tackled. Supply of social housing has fallen far behind the demand for it because waiting lists have grown by over 60 per cent in just six years.

One major reason for this is the number of asylum seekers who have been granted asylum - or other forms of protection which entitle them to remain in Britain - and offered social housing…

Full newspaper article

Briefing Papers


Migration Watch Today Published a Survey of EU Immigration Laws and Policy

June 22, 2009

Migration Watch have commissioned a report on EU immigration legislation and policy from Geoffrey Fitchew, a former Director General in the European Commission who was later Head of the European Secretariat in the Cabinet Office.   The Paper, which has a short summary, can be found at Briefing paper 4.12.

Reform of the Immigration Appeals System

June 22, 2009

In August 2008 the government published a paper for the purpose of consulting on reforms to the present system for hearing appeals against adverse decisions by the Home Office on asylum and immigration cases. The substance of that paper and Migration Watch comments on it are set out in Briefing Paper 8.29, issued in November 2008. An account of the workings of the present appeals system is to be found in Briefing Paper 8.2. The government has now published a response to the consultations, setting out its decision. The undated paper “Fair decisions: faster justice” has recently been issued jointly by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) on behalf of the Home Office and by the Tribunals Service on behalf of the Ministry of Justice….

Full Briefing Paper 8.35