================================= Last updated at 2:17 AM on 21st November 2011 Hundreds of thousands of migrants have ‘disappeared’ at the stroke of a pen under a new official counting system. The method has led to apparent large falls in the numbers of migrants thought to live in London and other major cities. The change has provoked fury among council leaders who say the immigrant populations of their districts have been grossly underestimated by government statisticians. Migrants 'disappear': London, Manchester, Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford are among cities who have had 'large downward revisions' from the new counting method Westminster and Kensington in London, Manchester, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge are among places thought to have had their estimated populations reduced by many thousands by the Office for National Statistics. Colin Barrow, Tory leader of Westminster, said: ‘After four years of work supposedly improving migration estimates, the ONS apparently still has little idea how many migrants are in this country or where they live and work. ‘Our incoming migrant population appears to have dropped by 17 per cent over four years; you only have to go out into the bars and restaurants in the West End to see that migrants come to Westminster to live and work in much greater numbers than this.’ More than nine out of ten migrants to the UK live in England, which has become the sixth most crowded major country in the world, the MigrationWatch think-tank said last week. Last year net migration was 239,000. The new estimates method, to be used from next year onwards, uses the same source of immigration statistics the ONS has always used. This is the International Passenger Survey, a check on intentions of arrivals at air and sea ports and on the Eurostar. From this researchers use a complex formula, based on other official population databases, to estimate the number of yearly arrivals. Under the new method, this formula has been tweaked, resulting in changes to the estimated numbers arriving at certain towns and cities. Only 4,000? The new estimate pins the number of migrants in 2009 in Westminster to just 4,000. Tory leader Colin Barrow finds this seriously questionable Some have fallen while others have risen, but the total remains unchanged. Westminster’s migrant population has been reduced by 10,000, and Manchester’s and Bristol’s each by 30,000. According to ONS briefing papers, Kensington and Chelsea, Oxford and Cambridge have had ‘quite large downward revisions’. Mr Barrow said: ‘We would seriously question the estimate that fewer than 4,000 migrants came to Westminster in the 2009 financial year to seek work. 'We have seen more people registering with doctors and paying council tax in Westminster, so we fail to understand how the government statisticians can be so wrong.’ Councils can lose millions in Treasury grants if Whitehall cuts their population estimates. The ONS was scheduled to publish papers about the new migration counting system last week, but failed to do so. Some places are said to show a higher count, such as Newham, East London, with a 13 per cent increase. The ONS declined to comment yesterday. --------------------------------------------Migrants vanish! - Daily Mail Mon 21st Nov/11 Thousands of migrants 'disappear' in cities under new official system
Monday, 21 November 2011
Politics List
"More than nine out of ten migrants to the UK live in England, which has become
the sixth most crowded major country in the world,.."
The ONS declined to comment yesterday. -- I bet they did!
Comments (108)
Posts
Here's what readers have had to say so far......
Please Please Mr Cameron,we all know this Great country of ours is in dire straights and we know who caused the problem. But do not carry on as you are, stand up and own up to us that it harder than you ever thought, tell us the truth and the people will back you to the hilt,we want out politicians to be HONEST, stop borrowing more to give away to foreigners and stop sounding like a European, unless of course you really are a Europhile. R.S. Toddington
- R S Toddington, England, 21/11/2011 12:28
Report abuse
The government should close the borders, and only let visitors in who are tourists, or here on business. And start sending all foreigners, not born here back to were they came from. The British people want there country back.
- D W, Leeds, 21/11/2011 12:25
Report abuse
As an ex-teacher I have been aware of this for years. School rolls simply never matched the number of migrant children that we were told lived in a certain London Borough. Anybody who has worked in Housing Benefits would tell you exactly the same thing. This and the last government have played the numbers game in an attempt to appease the voters. Any true analysis would almost certainly show that eg. London's population is AT LEAST 10% higher than the Government figures show. No doubt when the census figures finally appear they will have had plenty of time to 'manipulate ' them . In any case there will be no mention of the possible million or more who have ' disappeared ' with little effort on their part.
- g lowestoft, 21/11/2011 12:11
Report abuse
This is nothing new, the government have been fiddling figures for years, one could even say they as experts at it, immigration, inflation, employment, unemployment, hospital waiting lists, training. It costs far less to fiddle the figures than to address the problem. After announcing a new half baked scheme and a different method of estimating or counting the statistics, the problem miraculously disappears and politicians then take all the glory!
- C B'ham UK, 21/11/2011 12:08
Report abuse
I've never believed the "official" figures anyway.
- H, Wales, 21/11/2011 11:57
Report abuse
We've been told the same lies about immigration for sixty years and still our witless population think electoral vengeance the answer. When will they realize that to win an argument you control ALL sides of it, that political parties are the same, and that any that oppose the systematic destruction of England will be subject to a campaign of vilification certain to have these brave souls running scared? Forget elections. Grow up.
----