We must halt this conspiracy of silence over our immigration crisis
COMMENTARY
By Sir Andrew Green Chairman of Migration Watch UK The Daily Mail, London, 22 October, 2009
The figures on population trends mark a watershed in the debate on immigration.
They are the last estimates that will be made public before the election - and they make grim reading. Mass immigration, which has been encouraged by Labour's policy of open borders, has already brought three million immigrants to Britain since it came to power in 1997.
These projections confirm that immigration is driving our population to new heights. If nothing is done, we will have an extra 10million people within 25 years - and nearly 70 per cent of them as a result of new immigration.
Overcrowding: Immigration is driving our population to new heights
The conspiracy of silence among the main political parties on this vitally important subject cannot be allowed to continue. They must face up to the huge impact that immigration will have on the future of our society - and especially on England, which is the destination for more than 90 per cent of foreign migrants.
Put simply, the increase in immigrants we face is the equivalent of the entire population of London or seven cities the size of Birmingham. More than one-third of new housing demand is due to immigration; we will have to build a home every six minutes, day and night, to house our new arrivals.
But where will we build all these homes? Of course there are rural parts that could be built over but these areas are not where immigrants want to go.
On current trends, two thirds of them will settle in London and the South East, which is already the most congested part of England. And remember that England itself is now the most crowded country in Europe.
There is also the question of who will pay for all this. We face the tightest public spending cuts for a generation. What is the sense of adding millions to our population when we are forced to cut billions from the budgets for our health, schooling and other public services?
In any case, why do we want immigration on anything like this scale? For years we have been bombarded with government propaganda about the economic value of immigration.
But the government case was blown apart last year when the Economic Affairs Committee of the House of Lords found unanimously that there was no evidence that net migration generated significant economic benefits for the existing UK population.
Open goal: Nick Griffin must be delighted with the lack of action taken to stem immigration by the main parties
Meanwhile, there are very definite costs to uncontrolled immigration.
Trevor Phillips, head of the Human Rights and Equality Commission, has been warning for years that we are 'sleepwalking into segregation'. He has said we are a society which is becoming more divided by race and religion, almost without noticing it.
For stating this truth, he has been vilified by the Left and ignored by the Government. But the facts are on his side. In central London primary schools, only 20 per cent of pupils are now classified as 'white British'.
But while the politicians might ignore all this, the public are perfectly aware of the problem. The results of recent opinion polls are startling.
Eighty-four per cent are worried about our population hitting 70million in 20 years or so, including two thirds of our ethnic population. Seventy-one per cent are worried about the impact of immigration, including 45 per cent of the ethnic communities.
You might have thought that the political conference season was the perfect opportunity for the main parties to address these concerns and suggest policies to tackle them. Yet immigration was hardly mentioned.
What an amazing gulf there is between the political class and the people.
The beneficiary, of course, is the BNP, which has been left with a wide-open goal. Nick Griffin, due to appear on Question Time this evening, must be delighted.
The truth is that the public are right to be concerned. The numbers of migrants are now so great as to change the whole nature of our society, yet no one has ever been consulted. Middle England is privately seething with resentment at this change and the white working class is deserting Labour in droves.
Many ask how this could have been allowed to happen. It has almost nothing to do with 'globalisation', as the Government claims. The fact is that our immigration system has been collapsing for ten years at least.
The critical error was the abolition of border checks, started by the Conservatives and completed by Labour. As a result, under the present government, 18million visas have been issued with absolutely no check on departures. Small wonder that we now have a burgeoning population of illegal immigrants.
This lax border control contributed to the complete loss of control of asylum, with the Government eventually having to admit it had lost nearly half a million asylum case files after they were discovered in 2006 lying unattended in a warehouse.
Easy entry: The new economic migration system is not as tough as the Government promises
Only yesterday we learned that another 40,000 immigration files had been 'rediscovered' by the Home Office. All 40,000 cases concerned those who had arrived in the UK legally, but had their requests to extend their stay turned down.
Yet the Home Office did not deport them and has no record of them leaving the country. Many of them will now, of course, be granted settlement which means full access to the welfare state.
For five years the Government has been trying to recover from the disastrous legacy of its immigration policy. It is implementing a major reform of the immigration system but, even so, it will not fully record individuals as they cross our borders until 2014.
It has introduced a points-based system for economic migration which it describes as 'tough'. Unfortunately, it is not tough at all. The system has no limits and is not intended to have any.
The Government's own assessment is that its reforms will reduce net immigration by only about 10 per cent. But immigration is now so high that it must be reduced by 75 per cent from the level of 2007 if we are to stop the population of the UK hitting 70million.
To stabilise our population at 65million we need to bring net migration down close to zero. Yes, the recession will help temporarily (and this year's immigration figures are expected to be somewhat lower) but the history of the last three recessions is that immigration resumes its strong upward path as soon as the economy starts to recover.
Are the Conservatives any better? Not on current policies. They propose a cap on work permits but that would still fall far short of the reduction needed.
The reality is that there is no single measure that will do the trick. What is needed is a commitment from the main parties to take all possible measures to keep the population well below 70million.
We cannot allow the population to be determined by hundreds of pages of immigration regulations relating to the minutiae of individual cases, as at present. We need a considered policy with a defined purpose, around which regulatory measures can be built.
Seven years ago Migrationwatch, the think-tank which I chair, predicted that immigration would add two million to our population every ten years. We were savagely attacked.
Last week the Government published a study by Oxford Economics which found that 'recent evidence indicates that the 2001 figure of 4.3million foreign-born people in the UK could have grown further by more than two million in the last eight years'. Sadly, we were absolutely right. This government has, as we predicted, presided over a period of mass immigration.
Truly, our country faces a watershed. If the next government fails to take serious steps to bring immigration under control, the numbers will continue to spiral upwards - putting at risk our environment, quality of life and the whole nature of our society.
Sir Andrew Green is a former British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Syria.
© Copyright of Sir Andrew Green http://dailymail.co.uk http://www.migrationwatchuk.org
BNP leader Nick Griffin in fresh storm after claiming London has been 'ethnically cleansed' as he defends Question Time debut
By LIZ HAZELTON
Last updated at 5:25 PM on 23rd October 2009
- BNP leader claims he faced a 'lynch mob' on Question Time
- He says London audience did not represent British views
- Comments are immediately shot down by Boris Johnson
- Show pulls in record 7.8 viewers - three times usual number
- MP attacks BBC for turning Griffin into 'a victim'
Nick Griffin today claimed London had been 'ethnically cleansed' of British people in a provocative interview just hours after he appeared on Question Time.
As the row over last night's TV appearance grew, the BNP leader said he was the victim of an unfairly biased audience drawn from the multi-cultural capital.
'That wasn't Question Time. It was a lynch mob,' he added after summoning reporters to a press conference in Thurrock, Essex.
He went on: 'That audience was taken from a city that is no longer British ...
'That was not my country any more. Why not come down and do it in Thurrock, do it in Stoke, do it in Burnley?
'Do it somewhere where there are still significant numbers of English and British people liv(ing), and they haven't been ethnically cleansed from their own country.'
Surprise supporter? An Asian man gives a thumbs up to the camera as Nick Griffin talks with a market trader in Grays town centre, Essex, today after his appearance on Question Time
His comments were immediately shot down by London mayor Boris Johnson who said that London had 'no place' for the BNP and Griffin's 'extremist and offensive views'.
Mr Griffin, 50, had refused to return to London - the location for last night's Question Time - declaring it was 'no longer part of Britain.'
'There is not much support for me there because the place is dominated by ethnic minorities,' he said.
'There is an ethnic minority that supports me: the English. But there's not many of them left.
'London is no longer a city my grandparents would recognise. It is changed beyond all recognition.
'Many of the ancestral Londoners have left over the last 20 years because they can no longer call it home.'
Mr Griffin's comments were immediately attacked by London mayor Boris Johnson.
'Nick Griffin is right to say London is not his city,' he said.
Grilling: Mr Griffin (centre left) conducted interviews in Essex as he claimed London had been 'ethnically cleansed'
'The secret of its long-term success is its ability to attract the best from wherever they are and allow them to be themselves - unleashing their imagination, creativity and enterprise.
'The BNP has no place here and I again urge Londoners to reject their narrow, extremist and offensive views at every possibility.'
His predecessor Ken Livingstone questioned why the BNP leader was uncomfortable with multicultural London.
'We accept that difference and diversity. We don't feel threatened by it - I don't know why Nick Griffin feels threatened by it,' he told Sky News.
Dismissive: Boris Johnson said there was no place in London for the BNP
Mr Griffin also used his a series of interviews to complain about the BBC and the format of the show.
'We know from the floods of emails and numerous telephone calls we have had that the programme was not shown in its normal format,' he said.
'They deliberately changed the whole format of Question Time in order to deal with me.'
Mr Griffin spent the day touring Essex and performed with markedly more confidence than during a shaky debut on Question Time.
But despite his bumbling delivery on last night's show, the BNP claimed the event had sparked the 'single biggest recruitment night' in the party's history.
The party said 3,000 people registered to sign up as members once a current recruitment freeze - introduced in response to legal action over the party's discriminatory membership rules - has been lifted.
A message on the BNP's website said: 'This figure represents the single largest block of new membership expressions of interest ever, and will, once formally signed up, have boosted party membership by nearly 30 per cent.'
Meanwhile, the fallout from Mr Griffin's Question Time debut continued as politicians queued up to castigate the BBC for giving him such a high-profile platform.
The programme was a ratings hit with 7.8million viewers, three times the usual number and 50 per cent of the audience share.
Mark Byford, the BBC's Deputy Director-General, said: 'This very large audience clearly demonstrates the public's interest in seeing elected politicians being scrutinised by the public themselves.
The BBC is firm in its belief that it was appropriate for Mr Griffin to appear as a member of the panel and the BBC fulfilled its duty to uphold due impartiality by inviting him on the programme.'
But despite favourable viewing figures, the broadcaster faces an unprecedented backlash.
Diane Abbott MP accused bosses of turning Mr Griffin, 50, into a victim as he was so strongly savaged by panellists and the audience.
Miss Abbott, the country's best-known black politician, claimed the format had been deliberately engineered to humiliate the BNP leader
'It’s all very well in the morning to say "oh well, he got smashed" but in the long run people who are attracted to the BNP will come away saying "he was a victim",' she said.
Under attack: Mr Griffin claimed the Question Time audience was biased
The BBC has so far received 357 complaints about last night's Question Time, of which 243 callers actually alleged bias against Mr Griffin.
By far the most savage account on the politician came from fellow panellist playwright Bonnie Greer.
The black academic revealed how Mr Griffin had been 'trembling like a leaf' throughout his appearance.
She described sitting next to him as 'probably the weirdest and most creepy experience of my life'
'I spent the entire night with my back turned to him,' she said.
'At one point, I had to restrain myself from slapping him. But it was worth it because he was totally trounced.'
'I spent the entire night with my back turned to him. At one point, I had to restrain myself from slapping him. But it was worth it because he was totally trounced.
'I had thought we'd face a formidable orator, somebody who knew his facts and had his ducks in a row but the guy was a mess!
"From the moment the audience began shooting questions, it was a case of the Emperor's new clothes.
'He was completely exposed as an evasive liar who couldn't even stand up his own quotes and looked like a buffoon.'
Mr Griffin, who has a criminal conviction for inciting racial hatred, ran the gauntlet of 1,000 angry protesters who had laid siege to the Question Time studio at Television Centre in West London.
Three police office officers were injured and six protesters arrested.
At one stage, around 25 people stormed inside the West London building as they attempted to find the Question Time studios.
Tory peer Baroness Warsi (left) branded Mr Griffin 'thoroughly deceptive' while Justice Minister Jack Straw said the BNP had no 'moral compass'
Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne (left) attacked Mr Griffin for linking his party with Churchill. Bonnie Greer said his version of history was 'a joke'
Flares were let off and women dragged kicking and screaming back outside by security guards.
Mr Griffin, meanwhile, was smuggled in via a side entrance by up to 40 dark-suited security guards.
Once inside, he was booed, jeered and mocked by the Question Time audience in a programme almost exclusively dedicated to his politics.
Facing angry heckling, and at times looking shaken, Mr Griffin:
- Repeatedly refused to give his views on the Holocaust, drawing attacks from Jewish members of the audience.
- Was branded 'disgusting' by one black member of the audience.
- Was forced to deny he had said that black men 'walk like monkeys'.
- Was jeered by a lesbian member of the audience who told him: 'The feeling of revulsion is mutual'.
- One Asian member of the audience called for a whip round to pay for him to go and live at the South Pole where he could enjoy a 'colourless landscape'
David Dimbleby, who chaired the session, tried to calm audience unrest by insisting that the programme 'won't be the Nick Griffin show'.
But he refused a request to take an audience vote on the rights and wrongs of the decision.
Baroness Warsi, the Tory panel member, said: 'If you look at the audience and reaction outside, people are outraged by his views and he has been exposed for what he is.'
Justice Secretary Jack Straw said the evening capped a 'catastrophic week for the BNP'.
Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem panellist, said Winston Churchill would be 'rolling' in his grave if he could hear Mr Griffin speak today.
Inside, he attacked Mr Straw saying his own father was in the RAF in the Second World War, while Mr Straw's was arrested for refusing to fight.
A black man in the audience was cheered when he confronted Mr Griffin.
His voice shaking with emotion, the man said: 'For just one minute could you not think of the benefits my parents brought to this country and other parents from an Asian, Indian or Pakistani background have brought?
Fury: A young Jewish man (left) and a black member of the audience were two of the most vocal opponents of Mr Griffin
The panel (l to r): Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, Conservative shadow cabinet member Sayeeda Warsi, Justice Secretary Jack Straw, Dimbleby, Griffin and Bonnie Greer
'No, all you're thinking of doing is trying to poison politics and poison the minds of people in this country. The vast majority of this audience find what you stand for to be completely disgusting'.
Asked whether he denied that millions of Jews and other minorities had been killed by the Nazis, Mr Griffin would only reply: 'I do not have a conviction for Holocaust denial.'
Of his previous comments, he said: 'I can't explain why I used to say those things.'
He acknowledged the BNP had been a 'racist and anti-semitic organisation' but claimed it had changed under his leadership. 'I am not a Nazi and never have been,' he said.
He was wearing the poppy he rarely removes. He says he wears it in protest at the poor treatment of soldiers injured in Afghanistan.
On the BBC, he said: 'I don't regard the BBC as Auntie, I regard the BBC as part of a thoroughly unpleasant ultra-Leftist establishment which, as we've seen here tonight doesn't want the English to be recognised as an existing people.'
'All the BBC have done is follow the rules they've set some years ago. We've crossed the threshold. It would have been wrong to keep us off any longer so I think the BBC has just done what they had to do.
'I'm sure it's been a large audience and possibly of interest to some people, so what's the problem?'
On homosexuality, he said: 'A lot of people find the sight of two grown men kissing in public very creepy. I understand that homosexuals don't understand that, but that is how a lot of us feel. A lot of Christians feel that way. Militant homosexuals do not have the right to try and preach to schoolchildren. That is perverse.'
Audience member David Kernohan, 26, of Kings Lynn, Norfolk, said: 'He came across very badly. By the end, the audience were essentially ridiculing him and shouting things at him.
'Creepy': Bonnie Greer said she found sitting next to Nick Griffin a disconcerting experience
'He was obviously very nervous. I don't think he would be pleased with the performance. He made a fool of himself and will have turned moderate people off the party.
'He's shot himself in the foot. It was excellent - a good day for democracy.'
BBC director general Mark Thompson yesterday defended the decision to offer an invitation to Mr Griffin. Mr Thompson said the Government should change the law if it did not want the party to appear on news and current affairs programme.
He said: 'Censorship cannot be outsourced to the BBC.'
Mark Byford, the deputy director general, said: 'It was appropriate to invite Nick Griffin onto the Question Time panel this evening in the context of the BBC meeting its obligation of due impartiality.'
Explore more:
- People:
- Boris Johnson,
- Jack Straw,
- Ken Livingstone,
- Mark Thompson,
- Nick Griffin
- Places:
- London,
- Afghanistan
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1222521/BNP-leader-Nick-Griffin-claims-London-ethnically-cleansed-defends-shambolic-Question-Time-debut.html#ixzz0UmazIJOP
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