Press Releases
Previous Press Releases
2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001December November October September August July June May April March February January
Press Releases for November 2004
November 16, 2004
Q3 Asylum Figures
MigrationWatch press statement
November 11, 2004
Workers from eastern Europe
November 4, 2004
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION Nearly one million immigrants since 1997 Massive levels continue, despite fall in asylum
November 1, 2004
Foreign nurse recruitment a red herring.
Full Text of Releases : November 2004
November 16, 2004
Q3 Asylum Figures MigrationWatch press statement
Commenting on the asylum statistics released today, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman Migrationwatch UK, said "This is bad news for the government. Asylum seekers are up by 13% and removals are down for the fourth successive quarter. It is increasingly clear that the governments present policies cannot reduce asylum claims to acceptable levels, especially as 70% are eventually refused permission to stay in Britain. Only one in five of those refused is actually removed." Meanwhile, according to the UNHCR, the UK continues to receive the second largest number of asylum claimants in the Western world - after France but above the US and Germany.
Back to top
November 11, 2004
Workers from eastern Europe
The Government have announced that 91,000 Eastern Europeans have registered since May, nearly half of them new arrivals. This is a very large number. At an annual rate it is 7 times the governments maximum prediction of 13,000.
The Government have shown a complete lack of foresight. In recent years, they have quadrupled work permits from the rest of the world to 175,000 a year. They must now make a sharp cut in work permits to accommodate these East Europeans who since May have had an automatic right to come here to work.
Britain simply cannot accept massive levels of immigration from all corners of the world.
Back to top
November 4, 2004
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION Nearly one million immigrants since 1997 Massive levels continue, despite fall in asylum
Figures released by the ONS today show that immigration remains at a very high level, despite the fall in asylum seekers that the government has been stressing. Net international migration to the UK in 2003 at 151,000 was almost the same as the 153,000 in 2002.
This was the fifth consecutive year that the level has been above 150,000 and it brings total net international migration to nearly 1 million (988,000) people between 1997 and 2003. This total, which does not include UK-born children of these migrants, is equivalent to the population of Birmingham.
An analysis by Migration Watch UK reveals that the number of asylum claimants included in the 2003 total is about 47,000 less than in 2002. This is caused by the reduction in new claims from 103,000 to 60,000 and the slight increase in the number of removals from 14,000 to 18,000.
The Government Actuarys long-term assumption for net international migration is 130,000. Even based on this assumption the UKs population will rise by 6.1 million in the 28 years between 2003 and 2031. Of this increase 5.2 million (84%) will result from immigration.
But the Government Actuarys assumption has now been exceeded in each of the last 6 years. If net international migration continues at this level of 151,000 the population of the UK will rise by 6.9 million by 2031 of which nearly 6 million (5,940,000) will be due to immigrants and their descendants. This is equivalent to six cities the size of Birmingham.
Commenting, Sir Andrew Green said This Government seems determined to pursue a policy of very large-scale immigration into the UK. They have reduced one route of entry, asylum, but opened many others. For instance, the number of work permits issued last year rose to a record 145,000 from just 36,000 in 1996. Immigration on this scale puts huge strains on our infrastructure. England is already the fifth most densely populated country in the world [1], and will become grossly overcrowded. The Government claim to have a policy of managed migration. In practice their policies take no account of the social impact on Britain, still less of the wishes of the British people of whom 80% want to see much tighter immigration controls.
NOTES:
[1] Excluding small island and city states such as Malta and Singapore only Bangladesh, Taiwan, South Korea and the Netherlands have higher population densities than England.
Back to top
November 1, 2004
Foreign nurse recruitment a red herring.
The Royal College of Nurses claim today that there has been a big increase in the number of nurses leaving Britain for the United States.
A report by think-tank MigrationWatch (read report) puts these numbers
into perspective.
Admission to the UK Register of Nurses from overseas has roughly trebled from 5,000 in 1997/98 to 15,000 in 2003/4. Meanwhile, the outflow has doubled from about 4,000 a year in the mid 1990s to approximately 8,000 a year in recent years.
Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, chairman, MigrationWatch UK said, Nurses from overseas are a red herring. This report illustrates that domestic recruitment and retention are the only long-term answers to our shortage of nurses.
He continued, Furthermore, even at the present unprecedented rate of 15,000 a year, the number of overseas nurses is only 6% of net foreign immigration of 245,000 (in 2002) and cannot, in itself, justify large-scale immigration.
Back to top