They Told Us Immigration Would Come Down

The country is changing fast due to mass immigration

We were promised control of our borders and reduced immigration

We imagine that like us at Migration Watch UK, you have had enough of attention-grabbing headlines and big (broken) promises. Perhaps it’s still early days for this Prime Minister and his Home Secretary, and to be fair to Ms Braverman, she has been one of the few senior politicians to have spoken sense about immigration – illegal and legal (much the bigger problem). The proof of the pudding will come at the point of eating it – as our pencil hovers over the ballot paper in less than two years time.  

The Channel crisis must of course be solved and with a bit of luck the efforts now being made will have an impact. Although, we have our doubts that there will be much change to the numbers crossing in small boats once the weather improves. But please don’t be fooled by any apparent progress on the Channel into thinking that immigration is sorted – as we were when told in 2019 that all would be well following our departure from the EU and the introduction of the new ‘points-based system.’ That worked well, didn’t it?  

As we have said before, the much more concerning issue is the scale of overall immigration.

Forgive us for repeating a part of our final newsletter of 2022 but it really is worth doing so because it is critically important. We wrote: 

“…… the census results  published in November  showed that  since  2010 our population increased by four million people;  all  of this the result of immigration.  In fact, in the last 20 years,  our population has grown by  8  million,  entirely  due to immigration. The UK is now  the most crowded  major  country in Europe – 3.5 times France and nearly twice Germany.  Such exponential  and rapid  population  growth  and the  demographic  change  this  leads to  has both economic and social consequences  that ultimately  pose a serious risk  to  the  cohesion and  stability  on which  our society  is founded. This is not something that any  government can  disregard  indefinitely.” 

The government’s future hinges on whether they are up to altering the direction that delivered this extraordinary population growth and the marked changes to our communities. 

We have heard much this week from the government about ‘levelling up’ and the opposition flying off to the Swiss Alps to commit to better trading relations with the EU; all with a view to improving the lot of the British people.  

Let’s be crystal clear, without a major reduction in immigration, there will only be levelling down and trade, whoever it’s with, will have little effect. With immigration as it is today, we will still be short of houses, long waits for hospital treatment will still be with us, GP surgeries will remain inaccessible and schools will struggle to cope with increasing numbers.    

On immigration more than any other subject in today’s politics, the gap between those in charge and the needs and wishes of those who vote for them, will just grow and grow.  

Don’t forget to keep an eye on what’s happening on the Channel with our tracking station here. Incidentally, the number who have crossed illegally in small boats since the phenomenon started in 2018 has now exceeded 85,000. Nearly 88% came in the past two years. And all because they found it to be such a doddle in first couple of years to get here and then be allowed to stay. Tough and decisive action in 2018 could have nipped it in the bud.

Blog of the week

London Becomes The Most Congested City On The Planet 

Road congestion in London is worse than in Paris, Rome, Berlin and Madrid, with traffic moving at 3.7mph during evening rush hour. London is also witnessing population displacement linked to immigration. Despite adding tens of thousands from abroad, London continues to see net outflow of residents to other parts of the UK. Read our full blog here.  

Migration Watch in the news

GB News: More than 50% of small boat modern slavery claimants are from Albania 

‘The reason Albanians are focused on is that there are all sorts of people who do make modern slavery claims… but the thing with Albanians is that they come from what is clearly quite a safe country, it’s a NATO member, they’re trying to join the EU, they are a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.’  

The Sun: MIGRANT SHOCK  Almost 13k asylum seekers have spent over ten years in Britain waiting for cases to be resolved, shock figures show 

‘If, after ten years, it is still not possible to make a decision, the claim is clearly pretty weak. 

‘Such failures are the result of dithering and indecision. It’s an absolute disgrace.’ 

See here for this story reported in the Daily Mail. Also in the Daily Express. 

Evening Standard: Dinghy crossings stop for two weeks after English Channel disaster claims four lives 

More than half of migrants who claimed to be victims of modern slavery after crossing the Channel in the first half of last year were Albanian, according to figures provided by the Home Office following a request from campaign group Migration Watch. 

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