MIGRATION WATCH UK

Record asylum applications and sky-high work visas and the number of young not studying or in work hits an 11-year peak

In case you missed it, Home Office statistics issued on Thursday (27th February) contained some extraordinary figures. There were

• ⁠850,000 long-term visas issued
• 162,000 grants for settlement
• ⁠417,000 extensions of stay for work
• 108,000 asylum applications, 18% up on 2023 and greater than the previous highest of 103,000 in 2002

This was our comment:

“The latest Home Office immigration statistics for 2024 show that inflows, particularly for work, have remained damagingly high. Any decreases from the previous year were largely the result of measures put in place by the Tories.

In other news we learned that the number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in work or education has hit an 11-year high at nearly 1,000,000.

The government must shake off its complacency, tackle legal and illegal inflows, stop importing cheaper workers and start prioritising the future of our own young people. Nothing they have done or said so far will do this.”

The sentence in bold was reported by the BBC and based on data released by the ONS. There is no mention of the Home Office immigration statistics on the BBC website and as far as we can make out, there was no mention in nationwide news bulletins. And we apologise if there was and we’ve missed it.

There was comment from immigration enthusiasts to the effect that the figures showed immigration to have fallen in the last six months of 2024 – in other words, since Labour came to office. This is totally disingenuous. As Alp said in our comment, any falls in July to December last year largely came about because of measures introduced by the Conservatives.

Moreover, an inflow of 850,000 has serious implications for housing and services and integration. Perhaps this is all about trying to take the sting out of the colossal net migration figures that are now part of the daily dialogue and the progressive left’s narrative. No matter that even net migration of 340,000 from 2029 (it won’t get anywhere near that low) will still lead to a population increase of five million by 2032 – barely seven years away – and 10 million by 2047. All of the increase resulting from migration and the children born to migrants.

Let’s not allow the open-borders enthusiasts to desensitise us to these catastrophically high numbers. As we said last week, numbers matter, a lot.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill

This week, Alp gave evidence to the Bill committee together with Tony Smith, a former Border Force Head and Karl Williams, Research Director at the Centre for Policy Studies. They were followed by David Coleman, Emeritus Professor of Demography at Oxford University.

There were 30 minutes of questions from the committee, which includes Dame Angela Eagle, the Home Office Minister taking the Bill through Parliament.

You can watch David’s full appearance below.

As we have said a number of times in previous newsletters, the Bill is pretty pointless and will not stop the boats or “smash the gangs”. On balance, it will have the opposite effect and very likely encourage both traffickers and migrants, which is what Alp told the committee; not that the committee seemed to be interested in the Bill itself.

The Minister wanted to know what we meant by “indigenous”. Alp told her  what our concerns were if she was referring to demographic change but the chairman of the committee moved on before Alp could enlighten the minister further.

There were no questions on how illegal Channel crossings should be addressed, or about the ECHR, the Human Rights Act and the part they play in encouraging illegal migration.

You can watch Alp’s full appearance below.

Alp spoke to Mike Graham on Talk about the government’s plans for legislation to tackle crime, including illegal Channel crossings. See here.

Lord Toby Young posted this rather good clip of Guy Dampier (you can find him on X at @dampierguy), another friend of Migration Watch. Like us, both of them believe that immigration should be run for the benefit of the British people.

What can you do?

Write to your MP today. Tell them that Thursday’s Home office figures showed that the government has done nothing to address runaway legal immigration and the Border Security, Immigration and Asylum Bill will have no impact on illegal Channel crossings and is more likely to encourage them.

Tell them again, to push the government to get a grip. We are all concerned about mass migration and what it means for the future of our country.

TAKE ACTION NOW

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SOURCE: Migration Watch UK newsletter

Featured image: Adobe Stock

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