We are seeing record numbers of mass immigration
A record MILLION entry grants in a year. Get the facts here
Newly-released Home Office statistics reveal that around a million people were granted long term UK visas in the year to March 2022. While we and much of the world endured lockdowns and travel was a fraction of its pre-pandemic levels, we possibly experienced the highest immigration ever. The reason for the uncertainty being delays in the issue of statistical data stemming from the discarding of tried and tested (albeit imperfect) methods of capturing data before a suitable successor system was in place, the adoption of experimental processes, and what seems like confusion and obfuscation at both the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics. The one thing clear from the Home Office figures is that there were increased inflows of 50% or more compared with pre-pandemic levels across all key categories (study, work, family). Total visa grants for direct resettlement/relocation in the period since 31 January 2021 was close to 150,000 (nearly 120,000 from Hong Kong and more than 30,000 from Ukraine, Afghanistan and elsewhere). Asylum applications are at their highest level for two decades (65,000 main applicants and dependants), while illegal crossings in boats so far this year are three times the level they were in the same period in 2021.
The arrival of a million people needing housing, access to the NHS, able to register with a GP, with children requiring schooling and adding to congestion has a huge impact on us all. Not only are extra pressures obvious but integration becomes so much more difficult. No wonder nearly three quarters of the public are unhappy with the government’s performance on immigration (YouGov).
Blog of the week
| A record MILLION entry grants in a year. Get the facts here Newly-released Home Office statistics reveal that around a million people were granted long term UK visas in the year to March 2022. While we and much of the world endured lockdowns and travel was a fraction of its pre-pandemic levels, we possibly experienced the highest immigration ever. The reason for the uncertainty being delays in the issue of statistical data stemming from the discarding of tried and tested (albeit imperfect) methods of capturing data before a suitable successor system was in place, the adoption of experimental processes, and what seems like confusion and obfuscation at both the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics. The one thing clear from the Home Office figures is that there were increased inflows of 50% or more compared with pre-pandemic levels across all key categories (study, work, family). Total visa grants for direct resettlement/relocation in the period since 31 January 2021 was close to 150,000 (nearly 120,000 from Hong Kong and more than 30,000 from Ukraine, Afghanistan and elsewhere). Asylum applications are at their highest level for two decades (65,000 main applicants and dependants), while illegal crossings in boats so far this year are three times the level they were in the same period in 2021. The arrival of a million people needing housing, access to the NHS, able to register with a GP, with children requiring schooling and adding to congestion has a huge impact on us all. Not only are extra pressures obvious but integration becomes so much more difficult. No wonder nearly three quarters of the public are unhappy with the government’s performance on immigration (YouGov). BLOG OF THE WEEKBotched Statistical Decisions Destroy Immigration Transparency Just As Numbers Skyrocket 73% of the public now say the government is handling the issue of immigration badly (YouGov, May 2022). The public can see that immigration is skyrocketing (breaching a clear promise by the government to control and reduce it). What’s more, they are not being given a clear picture of what is happening. A situation made worse by the premature (some might call it reckless) decision to abandon the International Passenger Survey (IPS) before an adequate and reliable replacement was devised. Read the full blog here. |
Migration Watch in the news
See below our reaction to the new statistics on mass immigration:
Commenting, Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:
‘These astonishing figures show around a million overseas nationals being granted entry to live in the UK in the past year or so. This is a huge increase on the year prior to the pandemic and possibly points to the highest annual immigration ever.
‘Such a huge number of arrivals can only add to strains on housing and services, put further pressure on schools and the NHS and worsen our congestion woes.
‘Meanwhile, illegal immigration in boats is running at three times the rate of last year’s record inflow.
‘No wonder those who voted for the government believing immigration would be controlled and reduced feel betrayed.’
You can find Alp quoted on this issue by the BBC, Telegraph and The Times.
EXCLUSIVE: Channel migrants are ‘asking to be returned home and not to African centres’ as they fear being sent to Rwanda… proving Priti Patel’s asylum plan IS working
‘If the scheme is having an effect then I welcome that. Rwanda is not the whole solution but I think it is a necessary part of what ultimately discourages people from jumping into dinghies, risking their lives and paying traffickers to do it.’
Alp said Archbishop Welby’s criticism of the policy had been ‘totally inappropriate’, adding: ‘I also feel it was unkind in a way that you wouldn’t expect the Archbishop to be.
‘Priti Patel has been lambasted for not getting a grip of the Channel crisis but the moment she does something serious in an attempt to stem it everyone turns on her. Do people want this to continue? Do they want numbers crossing the Channel to increase?’
‘Red Wall MPs were mostly elected because of Brexit and the promise to take back control, as well as to reduce immigration. Figures recently published of 2021 long term visa grants clearly show that immigration is now increasing uncontrollably, while border control is there in name only,’ said Alp Mehmet, chairman of the Migration Watch UK think tank, in comments on the letter provided to Breitbart London.
‘Red Wall MPs and their constituents can see what is happening, including a tripling over the past year of the rate of illegal arrivals in boats since January,’ he added.
‘When will global elitists see that what they want and strive for — and patronisingly claim is for the greater good — is not what the public want or voted for in 2016?’ he demanded, adding that, if Boris Johnson’s government ‘continues to ignore the wishes of voters, fails to tighten the immigration rules and fails to get a grip on numbers, they will alienate those who gave them their support in 2019 and wave goodbye to their 80-seat majority, perhaps indefinitely.’
Make your voice heard
New Home Office immigration and visa figures confirm what we have been saying in these emails repeatedly, that the government has thrown open our borders to make it easier for those in 80% of the world’s countries to come here, all while claiming to ‘take back control.’ The demand for reduced levels of immigration was a critical reason behind the Brexit vote in 2016, and the ‘Conservative’ victory in 2019, yet the politicians have pulled off a bait-and-switch. The tragic upshot is that our borders have been wrenched open to the world in a way that means mass, uncontrolled immigration will continue and get worse. We will not lie down on this, and we urge anyone who shares our deep concerns to write to their MP here.