Last night on the BBC2 programme “The truth about immigration”, Vince Cable was dismissive of the government’s immigration objective and suggested that it was time to be “practical”.
As it happens, the Lib Dem think tank Centre Forum has just published a paper, sprinkled with quotations from Vince Cable, entitled “The business case for immigration reform”.
A Migration Watch UK analysis demonstrates that the three main recommendations seem designed, in so far as they have any significance at all, to undermine the achievements of the present government and an abandonment of the net migration target to bring numbers down to the tens of thousands by the end of this parliament. The 18 minor recommendations also conflict with their call for stability in the system. Their press release said that “The permanent revolution in immigration policy is a nightmare for business seeking to comply with the rules.”
Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, the Chairman of Migration Watch UK said “ This is a vacuous document which ignores the fact that less than half of the available work permits have been taken up. Indeed, it underlines the absence of any serious Lib Dem immigration policy and displays their arrogance towards the 77% of the public who want to see immigration reduced – a figure which includes 62% of their own supporters.
Notes to Editors:
Link to Centre Forum paper and press release:
http://www.centreforum.org/assets/pubs/immigration-business.pdf
http://www.centreforum.org/index.php/14-news/releases/573-immigration-policy-nightmare-uk-business
Link to recent BSA survey.
http://www.natcen.ac.uk/media/205569/immigration-bsa31.pdf