Responding to today’s net migration figures, Lord Green of Deddington, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:
The latest figures are appalling. We need to stop and think where this mass immigration is leading. It points to a probable increase of three million in the UK population over the next five years in the face of very strong public opinion. Any further cuts in resources for immigration control would be absurd.
The government are right to focus on the need to ensure departure. Non-EU migrants are arriving at a rate of 300,000 a year but only 100,000 are leaving. It seems that half of those staying on (about 100,000) originally arrived as students.
Meanwhile, the nearly 50% increase in net EU migration suggests that simply curtailing benefits is unlikely to be effective.
