Our new research debunks bogus claims
‘No safe routes’ claim DEBUNKED!!
You will no doubt have heard the bogus claim—echoed by none other than French President Emmanuel Macron—that Britain has ‘no safe routes’ for refugees fleeing to the UK from persecution and war. The implication being, of course, that the only reason thousands every month are piling onto our nation’s beaches is that there is no other option for the world’s vulnerable. We’ll overlook for now the question of how genuinely vulnerable the 75,000+ who have crossed the Channel illegally since the start of 2018 are. Aside from the fact that those coming via this route are already safe in France, the suggestion seems to be that anyone who has a problem with illegal Channel crossings must be heartless and uncaring. Well, our new research paper (see the full paper here, and see here for a summary) debunks these erroneous assertions of the immigration industry and open borders brigade. The fact is, there are PLENTY of safe routes for those legitimately claiming asylum, and as you will see, the numbers claiming refuge through these routes have dramatically risen in the last year.
Here are some important takeaways form our paper released today:
- Around 240,000 refugees directly resettled to the UK in the past year (56 times the average of 4,200 per year seen during 2015-2020 and 118 times the 2,000 average during 2005-20)
- The number of people resettled last year was six times the number of Ugandan Asians given sanctuary in the UK in the early 1970s
- Britain opened its arms to help even as the former Home Secretary said: “We simply do not have the infrastructure or accommodation”
- A third of a million refugees have directly resettled here via 13 different routes since 2005
- The news shatters false claims by some – including French President Emmanuel Macron – that the UK has no safe, legal routes for refugees
Do read the summary and complete research paper. While Britain has a long and proud tradition of helping the persecuted from around the world, recent figures have been so huge that continuing at such levels of resettlement is simply unsustainable. All of which is made more difficult by the scale of abusive and illegal claims by those coming via illegal routes (See our Channel Tracking Station for updates).
Blog of the week
This False Claim Drove The Government To Vastly Weaken Study Visa Rules, With Shocking Results
It has been widely claimed by government and much of the media that 97% of overseas students depart on completion of their courses. This claim is highly misleading. While 97% of those leaving the country may have been doing so in compliance with their terms of admission or leave to remain, it overlooked the fact that four in ten overseas students (130,000 people in 2018/19) either extend their permission to remain in the country or had not been identified as having left. This was according to an analysis by the Office for National Statistics. On the basis of the false 97% claim, and under pressure from the higher education lobby, the government, nonetheless, loosened study visa rules from 2018. This led to a huge spike in visas which saw entry grants to overseas students and their relatives approach an all-time record of more than 480,000 in the past year. This has contributed to substantial pressure on housing and services. This constitutes little more than a total betrayal of the government’s own repeated promises to reduce immigration. For more please read our blog here.
Migration Watch in the news
We have featured again this week in the national news:
GB News: Does Britain need immigration to grow the economy?
‘What happens to the slice of cake that you or I and everyone else gets? It’s no use growing the cake if the slice that we get remains the same as has substantially been the case for the last ten, fifteen years.’
See here for Nigel Farage quoting our research in his Telegraph column:
Telegraph: Not tackling immigration is why the Conservatives will be wiped out at the next election
‘According to figures obtained by Migration Watch UK, private sector providers are being handed vast sums of taxpayers’ money to place asylum seekers into hotels. The estimated cost is nearly £4,300 per asylum seeker per month. That is 1.5 times the average monthly pay for an NHS nurse (£2,782).’
Conservative Home: Sarah Ingham: To protect our borders, we must help nations such as Greece defend theirs
‘Almost 36,000 migrants have crossed the Channel and made it to Britain so far this year, according to Migration Watch, up from 299 in 2018.’
Express: PM and Kwasi have folded, please Home Secretary stand firm on immigration – POPPY COBURN
‘As the chairman of the Migration Watch thinktank said upon hearing about Boris Johnson’s initial plans to loosen Indian visa restrictions, “The voters will not forgive… for misleading them”.’
And see here for our official statement accompanying our research on the scale of refugee resettlement:
MWUK: Direct refugee immigration to the UK is now 56 times previous level
‘The latest Migration Watch analysis has revealed a remarkable 56-fold increase in resettlement compared to 2015-2020 levels. This after the government had clearly promised voters that overall immigration would come down.
‘The breath-taking scale of resettlement has major implications for communities and involves large amounts of public funds being spent on accommodation (including hotels) and places ever greater pressure on services. It is at an unsustainable level. We must control our borders and reduce immigration without delay.
‘Meanwhile, over a year after the Taliban seized power, the government still can’t tell us the numbers who have arrived respectively via each of the specific resettlement routes from Afghanistan. This failure to release adequate data hugely damages transparency and accountability and is a disservice to the hard-pressed taxpayer.’
Make your voice heard
Nigel Farage was correct in his Telegraph column this week when he said voters across Britain are outraged and feel a sense of betrayal at the immigration regime imposed since the Brexit vote in 2016. Many believed they were voting for a reduction in mass immigration when they chose to ‘take back control’. However, our leaders have found more and more devious ways to get round the wishes of the great majority of the British public by ushering in a ‘points-based’ system that significantly weakened controls meant to keep in check the numbers who can come here to live and work. For example, it is now easier for people in 80% of the world’s countries to come here on a work visa. As we have long argued, the government will pay for it at the ballot box. Please write to your MP today to remind them who keeps them in power.