Protected green spaces in Britain are increasingly being eroded. The latest government figures reveal that local councils are increasingly allocating supposedly protected green space for construction – with 12 square miles of land per year set aside for housing and other construction. Over the past five years Britain has lost nearly 60 square miles of green space land. You can read a recent post we wrote on this topic here.
A major contributor to overdevelopment is mass immigration. Immigration has fuelled 80% of population growth since 2001, leading to soaring demand for homes. In early January we released a paper showing that, with the sort of overall immigration of recent years just over half of all the homes needed by 2040 will be as a result of mass immigration. This amounts to nearly 300 homes built per day, or one more home required every five minutes.
Given the risk of even higher levels of immigration once the Covid pandemic has passed, we are looking to losing more and more of our cherished green spaces forever. It is imperative that immigration controls are tightened (instead of being loosened as the government is doing). For more on this problem click here.
Below is a round up of our activities this week
Blog of the week
The chorus of the usual suspects calling for further ‘liberalisation’ of the immigration system is getting louder. Public opinion on immigration has softened, they claim, and will now tolerate unlimited immigration. How have we got to this point? Easy. Some suitably tailored questions were asked, in the middle of a pandemic and in the wake of leaving the EU, with the promise of sorting (ok, controlling) immigration – which most people took to mean reducing it. And, hey presto, the immigration industry uses the seemingly favourable results (read our blog challenging these claims) to press for even looser control and more immigration. The SNP has even claimed that the public are now in love with unlimited immigration and the government should go for it. In fact, when asked specifically about their views on the scale of immigration over the last decade, a clear majority of the public says it has been too high. Read our blog here.
Migration Watch in the media
Our Chairman Alp Mehmet had a busy week in the media, appearing on BBC Newsnight on 18 March to discuss asylum policy while also authoring a piece for the Daily Mail, published the same day, on the government’s upcoming proposals for tackling illegal immigration and asylum abuse:
Daily Mail: “‘This will foil the gangsters… .and help save lives’, writes Alp Mehmet.” (NB The headline is the Mail’s, not ours). He was also interviewed on TalkRadio by the redoubtable Mike Graham. Have a listen.
And Alp also responded to some of the leading immigration stories of the week. See his comments below.
The Times: Channel migrants will be sent to new reception centres instead of hotels
‘It is good that the government has realised that using hotels for asylum seekers adds to the many “pull factors” for illegal immigration, effectively, incentivising abuse of the system. Nothing wrong with the perfectly serviceable military barracks for asylum seekers. All this shows is that at the first shot of gunfire from opponents of the scheme, the government turns and runs. Disgraceful.’
Guardian: Ex-Home Office official accused of improper relationship with law firms
’This is not a good look for the Home Office. The public deserves more reassurance that officials are not being wined and dined by immigration lawyers in return for workshops on how to play the system. While the case seems to have been dealt with appropriately, it took too long to make the facts known. It is important that the public does not see the system as a plaything in the hands of fatcat lawyers.’
‘According to some, there has been a mass “exodus” of EU workers during the Covid pandemic. Is it true? Well, while many of these applications could have been made from outside Britain because of Covid, it is also true that having been accorded settled or pre-settled status, there is nothing to stop EU nationals from returning to the UK at a time of their choosing in the future. What is also clear is that there were many more people entitled to register than the government gave us to believe. Such things only further eat away at any trust in what the government tells us.’
The Telegraph: Eight in 10 flights to deport illegal migrants blocked by human rights challenges
‘It’s time for this persistent problem to stop. Human rights laws are there to protect the public, not as weapons for lawyers to get richer with the help of dubious immigration cases. We commend the government’s attempts to push back on “meritless claims” but it must stand strong against the inevitable barrage of politically correct outrage. Thwarting deportation cases has become a bloated and powerful industry and it will take a lot more than tough talk to fight against it.’
‘These figures are clear evidence of what the Home Secretary and we have long said, asylum abuse by those who have broken the law is rife and getting worse. It appears that asylum claims are being lodged, including by foreign criminals, simply to secure release from detention.
‘And yet, despite over 90% of such claims being rejected at first instance, the number of failed applicants removed has declined dramatically. The Home Secretary wants to take decisive action to deal with the problem. Let us hope her colleagues in government and Parliament have the courage and will to support her.’
Make your voice heard
If there is one currency that politicians understand it is votes. This is why it is important for those who are concerned about immigration control to write to their local MP (click here to do so) expressing concern about the government’s new policies, which weaken important visa rules with regard to citizens in four-fifths of the world’s countries. The government may talk tough but it’s what they do that matters more. So far, their actions have proved their words to be hollow.
As usual, the truth is found in the fine detail. Many people voted the way they did in the EU referendum of 2016 because they rightly wanted to see robust control of Britain’s sovereign borders, and of course mass immigration was a major driver of these concerns.
Instead of tighter control, however, we are losing the vital cap on the number of work permits that can be awarded each year and, alarmingly, employers now have no obligation to advertise jobs at home before recruiting abroad
If you feel strongly about the disparity between the spin and the reality, then we hope you would consider writing to your local MP and make your voice heard (here). Many of our supporters have written to tell us they have done so, and we are extremely grateful for their participation in this critical campaign.