Friday, 2 April 2010


Press Releases

Prime Minister Rapped by Statistics Authority

March 31, 2010

Responding to a complaint by Migrationwatch about the Prime Minister's misleading use of immigration statistics, the Chairman of the Statistics Authority has written to Mr Brown. He pointed out that the statistics were wrong (for the reasons given in our press release of 27 March - below) and expressed the hope that all parties would be careful in their use of statistics in the coming weeks. The correspondence can be found here.

Prime Minister gets his facts wrong on immigration

March 27, 2010

In his pod cast on Friday 26 March, the Prime Minister said "Some people talk as if net inward migration is rising. In fact, it is falling - down from 237,000 in 2007, to 163,000 in 2008, to provisional figures of 147,000 last year".

The first two figures refer to Long Term Immigration and are correct. The last of these figures is wrong on three counts:

- It refers to the International Passenger Survey (IPS) which is only one element in the estimate of migration. These figures are adjusted for asylum seekers, migration from Ireland, those who come as visitors and apply to stay etc. As a result, the statisticians usually add about 38,000 to the annual IPS figure to produce the estimate for immigration.

- The first two numbers are for calendar years but the third is a mid year figure up to June 2009.

- It is also a cumulative annual total covering the previous 4 quarters so it is different in kind from a calendar year figure, especially if there is seasonal variation.

Commenting, Sir Andrew Green Chairman of Migrationwatch said, "The clear intention was to produce a series of figures which looked like a decline even if they were not of the same kind. In fact immigration in 2009 could well be higher than in 2008 although nobody, including the Prime Minster, can yet know. This amounts to fiddling the figures for presentational purposes and is completely unacceptable, especially on such a sensitive subject.”

NOTE TO EDITORS:

NOTES
1. The IPS figure quoted by the Prime Minister can be found here:

Newspaper Article

Immigration is a real problem
By Sir Andrew Green 
Chairman of Migration Watch UK
The Guardian London, 29 March, 2010

Denis MacShane flings accusations of racism, but the fact is, there are growing population pressures from the third world.

Denis MacShane seems to believe that "nothing has changed" in the immigration debate since the early 1970s. That is not quite right. In 1971, net immigration was -40,000: in 2008, it was +163,000. If it continues at about this rate the population of the UK will hit 70 million in 20 years' time, and then 80 million in the 2060s. No wonder public concern has mounted over the years.

It is ironic that MacShane's call for a non-toxic immigration debate should be laced with innuendo and slurs. Those who disagree with his views are repeatedly linked with the BNP and racism. Indeed, his "anti-racist" rant neatly illustrates why the Labour party's traditional voters are turning in significant numbers to the BNP. His arrogant disregard for their concerns, shared by some 70-80% of the population, can only add to their frustration and confirm their growing conviction that much of the political class is as deaf as a post.

Read the Full Article

Posted by Britannia Radio at 11:16