Tuesday, 6 April 2010


A selection of recent media reports

PM will call election today KNACKERED Gordon Brown will today call a General Election for May 6 - with David Cameron's Tories sprinting ahead in the race for... Online Sun (06-Apr-2010)

The multicultural Christian right Andrew Brown: The launch of a Christian programme for the general election and beyond is a significant political development, not a good... U TV (05-Apr-2010)

Christians must speak of faith without sounding superior Christians need to speak and witness to the faith in such a way that others see that to be a Christian is a way of including humanity, not excluding most of it, writes Richard Harries, the former bishop of... New Statesman (05-Apr-2010)

Compensation battle rumbles on for asylum-seeking family NEGOTIATIONS will continue for another month over how much should be paid to an asylum-seeking family unlawfully detained by immigration services. Lawyers acting for Fred Nukagem, pictured right, have yet to reach agreement over how much compensation he should... The Sentinel (05-Apr-2010)

Population debate a new challenge The debate on Australia's population is more than an 'old style immigration debate', the first federal minister for the issue says. Tony Burke was on Saturday appointed population minister, after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd succumbed to growing public pressure to better evaluate what numbers... Silobreaker (05-Apr-2010)

BROWN SHAM ON MIGRATION WHEN Gordon Brown unveiled an immigration crackdown last week, clearly he really meant to announce a crackdown on immigration officers. Daily Express (05-Apr-2010)

MAIL COMMENT: At last, we have clear blue election water Barring an extraordinary new outbreak of dithering, Gordon Brown will tomorrow end the phoney war of recent months and inform the Queen of his intention to call a May 6... The Mail On Sunday (05-Apr-2010)

Press Releases


Prime Minister gets it wrong on immigration – again

Monday, April 5, 2010  

In his speech on immigration on 31 March, the Prime Minister attacked “those who propose a quota” on immigration. He claimed that it was unworkable and quoted from an IPPR paper to support his case.

In fact nobody is calling for a quota on immigration. He was, presumably, confusing an overall policy objective for net immigration which the Cross Party Group on Balanced Migration wish to see with a Conservative proposal for a cap on work permits which are only a small part of the picture.

A report out today from Migrationwatch examines the IPPR claims quoted by the Prime Minister and finds them to be unfounded. They are based on an overestimate of net immigration from the EU and they fail to take account of the plans by both major parties for a second Points Based test before economic migrants are granted settlement. The Migrationwatch paper demonstrates that a broad strategic aim of 40,000 a year is entirely feasible over a period of years.

Said Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migrationwatch: 'The Prime Minister is again getting into a muddle over immigration. It is hard to know whether he is trying to distract attention from the inexcusable government record of admitting three million immigrants since 1997 or whether he is seeking to avoid any firm commitment to limiting immigrant numbers in future.'

Notes to Editors: 1 The text of the Prime Ministers speech can be found athttp://www.number10.gov.uk/news/speeches-and-transcripts 2 The IPPR paper “The Limit to Limits” is at http://www.ippr.org.uk/publicationsandreports/