NEW CALCULATOR NEEDED AS GOVT MISSES 300,000 MIGRANTS

30-10-2007

Whoops! The government has admitted that it under-estimated the level of immigrant workers by 300,000 in the last 10 years - more evidence that it simply doesn't have a population policy worthy of the name.

For too long the issue of who lives in the UK has been characterised by arguments about colour and culture - those opposing immigration have, by and large, been racists objecting to a change in "our way of life".

So much so that the major parties have been scared off from discussing the issue in any meaningful way.

David Cameron, mindful of the Tory's recent past as the "Nasty Party" has tiptoed around the subject, while Labour has simply buried its head in the sand, ignoring the fact that an influx of cheap labour from around the globe has impacted most upon it's heartland support - the urban working classes.

Not any more. Cameron, having successfully persuaded us that he really isn't Michael Howard, has now plunged headlong into the debate, promising to cap the number of non-EU nationals arriving in the UK.

Labour's response led by the Immigration Minister and Birmingham MP Liam Byrne is to propose a points-based entry system to the country, giving priority to those with skills needed to help the economy.

Both approaches skate over the fact that workers from most European Union countries can settle here freely anyway and it is these new arrivals, notably from Poland, who have had the greatest impact on our country.

Like most migrant groups, the Poles have come to work not scrounge, bringing with them a dynamism and energy sometimes lacking in members of the host community.

Their drive, and willingness to put in long hours for low pay, has undoubtedly contributed to the dynamism of UK PLC.

But their mere presence - and that of other migrant groups -also places strains on our schools, hospitals and transport networks.

Our youngsters might be taught in classes, for example, where, the majority of pupils don't have English as a first language, stretching resources to their limit - and sometimes beyond.

None of these issues is insurmountable - but they will never be solved by New Labour's fundamental dishonesty about the issue, which has sought to deny the existence of any problems, rather than solving them.

Only the government, for example, seriously believes that most Poles who have arrived here recently will ever go back home. In common with other migrant groups, they will settle, make friends, have children - and only return to the land of their birth for holidays. And their needs will have to be provided for.

In time - although they are currently restricted - we can expect Romanians and Bulgarians to come and join them, and perhaps (who knows) maybe Turks as well.

If proper provision is made, it's possible that they can all be successfully integrated too - but bear in mind that our population is already predicted to soar to 75 million by the middle of the century.

To cope with that growth the West Midlands is committed to building 365,000 new homes in the next 20 years alone.

The issue here isn't which God these people worship, what clothes they wear or what food they eat - it's more about quality of life and (New Labour buzzword alert) social cohesion?

Higher house prices, lower wages, longer hospital waiting times and more congested roads do not make for a happy and contented populace.

In this context, the discussion about migrant workers from outside the EU is almost superfluous. As members of a superstate we have already yielded control of our borders - and given up any sense of control over how many people live here.

It is this problem - and how we deal with - that will come to define Britain in the early 21st Century. Population, not immigration, is the battleground now.