Press Releases

Response to the Institute of Directors on Student Immigration Reforms
15 February, 2012

In response to the statement issued by the Institute of Directors on the student visa reforms Sir Andrew Green commented:

“The Institute of Directors' statement is deeply misleading and self serving with an arrogant disregard not only for public opinion generally but also for the 20% of recent British graduates who are still unemployed.

It is particularly absurd to talk about foreign students being “ignominiously ejected” from the UK.  Half a million students from outside the European Union come here every year and must be expected to leave at the end of their studies – otherwise the student route would become a backdoor to Britain.  Last year 40,000 stayed on; the independent Migration Advisory Committee described the current scheme as "probably one of the most generous schemes of its type in the world". The new arrangements are intended to reduce this number by focusing on those who are really valuable to employers.  If the “highly skilled MBAs” referred to by the IoD cannot secure a salary of £20,000 a year they cannot be as vital as is implied.  Some employers may want cheap labour but British graduates need jobs”.

Footnote:

The immigration policy changes will decrease export earnings by only around 1% per annum according to the Department for Business, Industry and Skills (BIS). They estimate that the changes in student immigration policy will decrease export earnings by around £203 million in 2014/14 and £268 million by 2024/5.  The total value of UK education exports is estimated at £17.6 billion in 2015 and £26.6 billion by 2005.

Response to Home Office Statement on Student Visas
13 February, 2012

Today the Home Office issued a statement on planned changes to the student immigration route to which Universities UK responded.

Commenting, Sir Andrew Green said:

"With 20% of recent British graduates unemployed it beggars belief that Universities UK want still more foreign graduates to be able to stay on and work. These new regulations need further tightening, not loosening."

ONS Population Projections
1 February, 2012

Today, the ONS released further population projections based on varying net migration estimates.

Commenting, Sir Andrew Green said:

"These latest official projections underline the huge importance of the government keeping to its promise to get net migration down below 100,000. Even at 100,000 these figures show that our population will reach 70 million in less than 25 years with all the consequences that has for our overcrowded island."

Press Article

By Sir Andrew Green, Chairman
Migration Watch UK
8 February, 2012

The following is Migration Watch's response to an editorial in the Guardian edition of 2 February entitled "Immigration: dubious means to an uncertain end". We offered it to their web site "Comment is free" but it was rejected, apparently on the grounds that the web site does not publish comments on the newspapers editorials. The text is below:

The Guardian editorial of 2 February claimed that “The truth is that politicians worry about immigration more than the rest of the population do, not less”. Nobody who took part in canvassing for the last election, for whichever party, would come to that conclusion.

The editorial recognises that immigration lies second only to the economy among “important issues facing the country”. It also points out, correctly, that when asked about issues “facing you and your family” immigration is much further down the list. But the wording of a question and its framing are important. In this case, the reference to family is followed by a list of alternatives to choose from, most of which are clearly of direct family concern. The effect of this frame, therefore, is to skew the responses away from national issues. That does not mean that people are not greatly concerned. The very same question had crime level pegging with immigration. Is anyone arguing that politicians are unduly concerned about crime?

The title of the editorial “Immigration: dubious means to an uncertain end” points to further weaknesses in the argument. The dubious means is presumably a reference to the policy of greater selectivity announced by the Immigration Minister last week. However, any immigration system is, by its nature, based on selectivity since the alternative would be virtually open borders. Indeed, the Points Based System introduced by the previous government is based entirely on selectivity. The only remaining question is whether economic migrants should be selected on the basis of their earning capacity. The Migration Advisory Committee concluded that this was the only sensible yardstick.

As regards foreign students, their benefit is not in dispute – provided that they are genuine and that they intend to return to contribute to their own countries at the end of their studies here. Measures to eliminate bogus colleges and to weed out false applications should be welcome to the Higher Education sector whose long term future depends heavily on their reputation for excellence.

As for the “uncertain end”, that is the precise opposite of the case. For the first time in British history, a government has set an overall objective for immigration policy to which individual measures will be addressed. Those who oppose this are simply in denial about the sheer scale that immigration has reached and its consequences, notably for our population. Net foreign immigration under the previous government was just over 3 million and last year’s figure was just over 250,000 – the highest on record.

The latest population projections – which assume migration of 200,000 a year – show that our population will reach 70 million in just 16 years and two thirds of that increase will be a result of immigration. Those are the bare numbers. What it means is that we will have to find jobs, homes, school places hospital beds and transport capacity for the equivalent of an extra seven cities the size of Birmingham in just sixteen years. This, far from being an uncertain end, is a prospect which the vast majority of the public have consistently opposed.