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| Stop ignoring immigration, Soames urges MP colleagues | |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| MPs must take their heads "out of the sand" on immigration, senior Conservative Nicholas Soames has said. | |
| Opening a Commons debate prompted by an href="http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/19658" >online petition calling for curbs to immigration, Mr Soames said the UK had witnessed "the greatest wave of immigration... in nearly 1,000 years". | |
| More than 100,000 peopled signed the petition in under a week, he said. | |
| Meanwhile, a study has suggested that policy changes are needed if the UK's population is to stay below 70 million. | |
| The petition, now signed by more than 143,000 people, calls for "all necessary measures" to be taken to ensure the population stays "well below" this level. | |
| But the Oxford University study said "much deeper cuts" to net migration would be needed to meet this target, calling on the government to move "beyond rhetoric and into substance". | |
| href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/npp/national-population-projections/2010-based-projections/stb-2010-based-npp-principal-and-key-variants.html" >Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the UK population is set to rise from 62.3 million in 2010 to 67.2 million by 2020 and 73.2 million by 2035. | |
| Projected UK population 2010-35 | |
| Migration Watch, a think tank which campaigns for tighter immigration controls, was concerned at the effect this would have on the country's infrastructure and quality of life, and so organised the petition. | |
| 'Nasty little motion' | |
| Mr Soames said that the popularity of the petition had provided a "clear indicator of the very grave public concern about the scale of immigration to this country". | |
| Although the beneficial impact of immigration on diverse aspects of public life were widely accepted and immigration was a "natural and essential part of an open economy", he said, there were pragmatic causes for concern. | |
| He told MPs: "In the coming 15 years we will have to build, just for new immigrants and their families, the equivalent of eight of the largest cities outside London... together with all their associated social infrastructure, of schools, roads, hospitals, railways, and all the rest." | |
| Mr Soames was backed by Labour MP Frank Field, who said that the government's pledge to cut net migration down to "tens of thousands" per year had garnered cross-party support. | |
| The two MPs, along with eight parliamentary colleagues, tabled a Commons motion for debate, based on the online petition. | |
| But SNP MP Pete Wishart warned that their adoption of the phrase "all necessary steps" in their "nasty little motion" sounded worryingly authoritarian. | |
| 'Terrible thoughts' | |
| Mr Field contrasted the attitude to the UK of Olympians like Mo Farah with the terrorists responsible for the 2005 London bombings. | |
| He asked why "we have so many people who come here and are so committed [to the UK], and yet at the same time there are some... second generation immigrants who harbour such terrible thoughts in their hearts about us that they actually want to take terrible action against us". | |
| His Labour colleague Diane Abbott was prompted by this comment to intervene. | |
| "What possible evidence does [he] have that more than a tiny fraction of a fraction of second generation migrants harbour terrible thoughts?" she asked. | |
| Mr Field said he accepted there was "no evidence" to contradict her proposition. | |
| Net migration by citizenship 1991 - 2011 | Net migration by citizenship 1991 - 2011 |
| ONS figures released last month say estimated net migration in the year to December 2011 was 216,000 - down from 252,000 the previous year. | ONS figures released last month say estimated net migration in the year to December 2011 was 216,000 - down from 252,000 the previous year. |
| It said the fall was not statistically significant, but ministers argue separate figures show they are on course to reach their target of reducing net migration to under 100,000 people a year by 2015. | It said the fall was not statistically significant, but ministers argue separate figures show they are on course to reach their target of reducing net migration to under 100,000 people a year by 2015. |
| Ahead of the Commons discussion, Martin Ruhs, director of Oxford University's Migration Observatory, said: "There are three sets of key questions that this debate needs to cover. First, what are the objectives of population limits and why 70 million, rather than a higher or lower number? | Ahead of the Commons discussion, Martin Ruhs, director of Oxford University's Migration Observatory, said: "There are three sets of key questions that this debate needs to cover. First, what are the objectives of population limits and why 70 million, rather than a higher or lower number? |
| "Second, what are the consequences and trade-offs involved? And third, how could the necessary cuts to net-migration be achieved in practice?" | "Second, what are the consequences and trade-offs involved? And third, how could the necessary cuts to net-migration be achieved in practice?" |
| He added: "If this debate is to move beyond rhetoric and into substance, it cannot be based on arbitrary numbers or undertaken without evidence. Our report looks in detail at the key numbers and issues, and at the trade-offs associated with the deep cuts to net migration that the 70 million limit would require." | He added: "If this debate is to move beyond rhetoric and into substance, it cannot be based on arbitrary numbers or undertaken without evidence. Our report looks in detail at the key numbers and issues, and at the trade-offs associated with the deep cuts to net migration that the 70 million limit would require." |
| The Oxford University study finds that, based on the available projections from the ONS, the level of net migration would have to be considerably below 100,000 per year to achieve this target. | The Oxford University study finds that, based on the available projections from the ONS, the level of net migration would have to be considerably below 100,000 per year to achieve this target. |
| Migration Watch argues net migration needs to be limited to 40,000 to keep the UK population permanently below 70 million. | Migration Watch argues net migration needs to be limited to 40,000 to keep the UK population permanently below 70 million. |
| But the Migration Observatory found: "Reducing net migration from the current level of 216,000 to 40,000 would imply a reduction of over 75% - which clearly cannot happen without generating a wide range of important consequences and trade-offs." | But the Migration Observatory found: "Reducing net migration from the current level of 216,000 to 40,000 would imply a reduction of over 75% - which clearly cannot happen without generating a wide range of important consequences and trade-offs." |