February 13, 2008
Government figures wrong on where immigrants come from, confirms Statistics
Commission
The Government has the ability to control a much larger percentage of
immigrants coming to the UK than it claims.
This has emerged after think tank Migrationwatch asked the independent
Statistics Commission to look at Government claims that 52% of immigrants
are from outside the EU whereas Migrationwatch say the figure was 68%.
After reviewing the figures the Statistics Commission has agreed that the
Migrationwatch figure is the more accurate.
Migrationwatch numbers were arrived at by looking at net migration of
foreign nationals (the difference between the number of foreign nationals
migrating to the UK and emigrating from the UK). The Government arrive at
their 52% figure by including migration of British citizens which
Migrationwatch say are not relevant to the debate about where immigrants
come from.
The Statistics Commission makes the point that, for control of immigration
purposes, it may be better to consider in-migration only. On this basis,
even if returning British citizens are included, the Statistics Commission
confirms that non-EU citizens make up the majority (58%) of immigrants to
the UK.
Full articles at britanniaradio
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