Illegal immigration: a drain on our economy and taxpayers. And a Damascene conversion.
MIGRATION WATCH UK
First, the Damascene conversion. On Thursday, the former editor of the Spectator, Fraser Nelson, wrote approvingly in his Daily Telegraph column (see article of the week below) about Sweden’s success in reducing net migration to zero and cutting refugee intake by 80 per cent.
Five years ago, in an editorial in the 9 November 2019 edition of The Spectator, he wrote: “Britain has become the most successful melting pot in Europe, absorbing 2.5 million people over this decade without the far-right backlash seen in much of the continent…”
Fast forward to last Thursday and he readily admits to having been a fan of mass migration:
“I’ve long been a supporter of mass immigration, thinking every economy needs to be open to the world and its talents… In general, immigrants flatter most social metrics and now make up one in five workers. We have managed all this with far less of the xenophobic backlash recently seen on the Continent.”
At this point, one senses a ‘but’. And lo and behold:
“But those of us who argue that immigration is a net benefit need to be honest about what we mean. Yes, we can list the advantages. But we ought to admit to the drawbacks – and who suffers them. Those who employ immigrants (as cleaners, bartenders, nannies) will have a different view than those who find themselves competing with the newcomers for housing, school places, GP appointments or jobs.”
Familiar words? They will be to longstanding supporters of Migration Watch because we have been making this precise argument over many years, as shown in the BBC 2 programme, Immigration: How British Politics Failed that we wrote about in last week’s newsletter. Lest we have any doubt that Fraser Nelson is commending Sweden’s immigration policies, he ends his piece with this:
“If Sweden can do this within the EU’s free movement rules, Britain ought to be able to manage with full Brexit powers. But it would first require the political will: and a sober look at the situation and the Ghost of Christmas Future laid out today by the DWP data [showing the number of working-age people on long-term sickness benefit had hit 3.2 million and was heading for 3.8 million in five years’ time.] On current trends, a country struggling to build houses will be welcoming 1.5 million immigrants over the next five years while consigning 840,000 off to long-term sickness benefits. Does this sound like a sensible way to run an economy – or society? If not, it’s time to get thinking.”
It seems Fraser Nelson is the latest convert to join others (like the Adam Smith Institute and Mark Littlewood, erstwhile director of the IEA) along the road to Damascus. We bid them all a warm welcome.
One final point; Mr Nelson refers to a post-budget forecast of net migration settling at about 300,000 a year for the foreseeable. We don’t think this is likely to happen during this parliament and unlikely after that, unless the necessary measures are introduced, along with a cap. Nevertheless, even if net migration were to fall back to a steady annual 300,000 (plus the children that will be born to migrants), we would still be looking at a projected growth in our population of around nine million people well before 2050, (i.e., in the next 20-25 years.) With net migration of 600,000 a year (plus the children of migrants), population is projected to grow by around 20 million in the same period. Moreover by 2050, with such scales of migration, we will be well on the way to the majority becoming the minority.
Illegal migration
This week, it emerged that our new (we are going to solve it all) Labour government has not only failed to reduce the number of hotels housing illegal migrants but has actually increased their use since coming to power. The number has risen from 213 to 220, with only seven hotels closing while 14 new ones opened. Meanwhile, the recent report from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI), An inspection of contingency asylum accommodation, exposes even more shocking details of the mismanagement and waste propping up this broken system. At 115 pages, the report reads like a script for a dark comedy, except the punchline is your hard-earned tax money being set on fire. The report covers the period November 2023 to June 2024, so all under the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak’s watch. Here are some highlights (perhaps lowlights would be a more fitting description)
The £250m “cost-saving” disaster
Remember the Bibby Stockholm? The government spent £250 million setting up migrant sites like this, all under the guise of saving money. The result? Costs per person ended up being higher than they would have been had they stayed in hotels.
Meanwhile, 30,000 migrants are staying in hotels at a cost of £4.2 million a day. That’s £1.53 billion annually – enough to fund over 50,000 new social housing units, that would ease the housing crisis. Instead, it goes on B&Bs for people who probably shouldn’t even be here. To make it seem like they were “closing” hotel accommodations, the government started cramming people into shared rooms. Efficiency gains? Nah, just another PR stunt.
Freebies galore while Brits struggle
Migrants enjoy en-suite rooms, free meals, and even private dental care, while ordinary Brits struggle to put food on the table, keep warm and get on the housing ladder. Complaints about the quality of food provided in holding accommodation abound – with food described as inedible.
Migrants also come and go from so-called ‘secure’ sites as they please. Some do so by being non-compliant, while others are unable to read or write, making it harder to enforce oversight. At one hotel for female trafficking victims, unidentified men were reportedly sneaking in through a side door.
A system in chaos
The Home Office doesn’t know where all the migrants are. Record-keeping is so poor, with contractors being paid for empty rooms. Departments fail to communicate, leading to migrants being shuffled between sites with no proper records. Contractors running these sites regularly fail inspections for overcrowding, unclean facilities, and safety risks.
Emergency measures allow the government to open sites without consulting local communities. This sparks lawsuits and protests, adding to costs. Meanwhile thousands of those whose asylum applications are rejected remain housed indefinitely because they cannot be removed, usually because they lack documentation.
The bottom line
In 2022-2023, asylum spending hit £5.42 billion, up 39% from the year before. Crossings are at record levels. Beyond securing additional accommodation for the next ten years, the government seems bereft of ideas as to what to do about the chaos. We’ve noted that there is much less talk of ‘smashing the gangs’. We wonder why?
Here’s the truth:
- Billions are being wasted on people who mostly shouldn’t be here.
- Local communities are ignored.
- Security and oversight appear to be totally inadequate.
The consequences of this chaos can be dire. Just last month, Rhiannon Whyte was murdered by a migrant staying at one of these sites. Staff face daily threats, assaults. It seems the system is neither humane nor functional.
ECHR madness: protecting criminals over victims
As for our courts and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the latest absurdity we learned about involved ‘MD’ a paedophile from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who had been convicted of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter and two other girls. He was sentenced to be deported but, despite being deemed a continuing risk, a tribunal ruled this would breach his right to family life and allowed him to stay and live alongside his family and victims. Madness. The ECHR is simply no longer fit for purpose and yet it remains embedded in UK law through the Human Rights Act. Both have to go.
*****
Migratiom Watch in the Media
This week, our Executive Director, Dr. Mike Jones, discussed with Nick Ferrari on LBC the government’s inability to reduce the use of hotels for housing illegal migrants. Despite promises to cut reliance, the number of hotels increased from 213 to 220, with only seven closing and 14 new ones added:
Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, spoke to The Daily Mail about fake asylum seekers claiming to be from war-torn Eritrea to gain entry to Britain. Many even brag about their deceit to thousands on TikTok:
“Make your way to the UK illegally, destroy anything that could identify you, make up a story that can’t be checked, and you’re home and dry. I dread to think how many in the backlog now being granted asylum or permission to stay have lied about who they are and where they’re from. We really have lost our senses.”
Alp was also quoted in the Daily Express about Labour’s desperate attempt to end Channel migrant crisis:
“This smacks of government spin with no substance.
The underlying message for me is that the PM and his Home Secretary have given up on ‘smashing the gangs’.
A deal with Kurdistan makes no sense; what will our courts say about failed asylum seekers appealing against being returned to ‘a semi autonomous region of Iraq’?
While the plan with Vietnam is essentially to spend a lot of money on dissuading its nationals from setting out in the first place.
The futility of this tactic has been shown time and again.
The truth is, the Government has come up against the brick wall of reality and has reverted to smoke and mirrors.”
These articles were created and published by Migration Watch UK and are republished here under “Fair Use”
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