David Blunkett seems to have grasped the stick firmly by the wrong end. Migrationwatch is not opposed to all immigration, as we have repeatedly and publicly made clear. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is to wilfully misrepresent our position.
The issue is not whether Eastern Europeans should be allowed to work in Britain but whether they should be required to have work permits as is required everywhere else in the EU except Ireland.
Failure to impose any controls at all is, in our view, very unwise given the present massive levels of immigration. At present levels, we can expect our population to increase by seven million over the next three decades – this is seven times the population of Birmingham.
As for his claim that Scotland needs a larger population, England has received nearly a million immigrants in the last ten years but Scotland has had a net loss due to emigration of 41,000. This indicates beyond doubt that heavy immigration into the UK does not prevent a loss of population from Scotland.