By JAMES SLACK Labour censored a hugely controversial report on immigration to remove details of its possible links to organised crime, street fights and begging, it emerged last night. The revelation prompted claims by Opposition MPs that the Government's handling of the Cabinet Office study was 'fast turning into the most scandalous political cover up in recent time'. Ministers have come under fire over comments made by ex-Government advisor Andrew Neather, who claimed that early drafts of the report said mass immigration would make Britain more multicultural and enable Labour to portray the Tories as racists. Critics said it blew the lid off a 'secret Labour plot' to use mass immigration for political gain. But yesterday the row took a twist when it emerged that key passages which may have harmed the case for Britain adopting an open-door immigration policy had also been airbrushed from the report. They included a section headed 'criminal behaviour', which warned of possible links between mass immigration and some crimes. The passages were allegedly removed when the report was being finalised in 2000 by the Cabinet Office's Performance and Innovation Unit, which has been described as a Blairite 'think tank' operating at the heart of Whitehall. One of the sections missing from the final report, which was published in 2001, said: 'There is emerging evidence that the circumstances in which asylum seekers are living is leading to criminal offences, including fights and begging.' A second section warned: 'Migration has opened up new opportunities for organised crime.' It stressed that migrants were not more likely to be criminals, despite more foreign nationals ending up in prison. The prison figures were down to foreign visitors being held at airports and ports for drug smuggling, and did not relate to migrants looking to settle in the UK, the report said. But Downing Street allegedly removed the section because it was 'nervous' about how it would be received. Other crimes linked to migration included 'marriage rackets', drug and people trafficking and fraud. Another passage proposing a cross-government communications strategy on migration to inspire a more positive public attitude was also pulled. The draft, leaked to London's Evening Standard, also claimed that racism towards black migrants had come 'not just from extremists or working class communities, but from politicians and policy-makers at the highest level'. This was not included in the final report. Last night, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'This is fast turning into the most scandalous political cover up in recent time. Ministers are clearly in a state of complete denial about what appears to have happened.' Former Labour adviser Andrew Neather Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, said: 'This is clear evidence of what many have long suspected, namely that the Government whitewashed many aspects of immigration while making exaggerated claims about the economic value.' The leak overshadowed attempts by ministers to come out fighting and discredit Mr Neather's account of the draft report. In a newspaper article written last Friday, the former adviser to Tony Blair claimed the Government opened up Britain's borders in part to try to humiliate Right-wing opponents of immigration. Secret passages allegedly said the policy 'was the way that the Government was going to make the UK truly multicultural.' Yesterday, immigration minister Phil Woolas denied any significant decision had been taken to loosen immigration controls. He added: 'The biggest reason for illegal immigration into the United Kingdom was not as Mr Neather said, it was the abandonment in 1994 by the John Major Government of border controls. 'I find Mr Neather's statements not credible, not stood up by the truth and the civil servant to whom he has referred has as I understand refuted these accusations.' 'The reason we have had increasing immigration under the Labour Government is Eastern European immigration and they have started to go home.' Mr Woolas also claimed that Gordon Brown was tougher on migrants than Tony Blair, saying: 'This Prime Minister has a much more robust attitude to migration than the previous prime minister, and the changes we have been implementing have come straight from Gordon Brown.' But shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said: 'Mr Woolas is clearly in denial about his own Government's immigration policy. David Blunkett, as home secretary, said there was "no obvious upper limit" to immigration, and his policy reflected that. 'It would be more honest for ministers to admit they made a huge mistake and introduce new policies, such as the limit on work permits a Conservative Government would introduce.' Tory leader David Cameron, speaking at his regular Westminster press conference, restated a pledge to return net immigration levels to those of the Major and Thatcher years. Figures of more than 200,000 recorded in recent years, he said, are 'too high'. Last night the Cabinet Office denied the author of the PIU report, Jonathan Portes, had been pressurised by ministers. A spokesman said: 'We are confident that the principles of the code were applied in this case, and the lead author, a civil servant of some twenty years standing, is clear that he was under no political pressure at any point in the process.' He also denied Mr Portes, now a senior economic adviser to the Government, had ever worked as a speechwriter for Mr Brown. WHAT THEY CUT OUTLabour censored links between immigration and crime in report
Last updated at 8:33 AM on 28th October 2009
Explore more:
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1223296/Labour-think-tank-airbrushed-link-migrants-crime-immigration-report-Blair.html#ixzz0VDdmN0JM
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Posts
