Immigration-fixated Daily Mail blind to looming demographic crisis
The Daily Mail is more worried about the numbers of foreign-born UK residents than the demographic timebomb facing citizens, taxpayers and young people.
Immigration
Immigration cap: Too low for business, but too high to meet Government targets
The Government has today announced its long-trailed cap on immigration. The cap is more accurately described as a cap on skilled migration for work from outside the EU through Tiers 1 and 2 of the Points-Based System.
Immigration was a factor, but it did not cost Labour the election
As the government announces its new immigration cap today, some in Labour may be tempted to re-visit the thesis that a tougher policy on immigration could have saved the party from electoral defeat in 2010. The idea that immigration played a critical and negative role for Labour in the general election is now well established; the evidence, however, simply does not support such a position.
Immigration cap turning into a major headache for the government
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has today published the findings of its report to the government on the recommended level for the proposed cap on skilled immigration from outside the European Union. The report demonstrates the scale of the task which the Government has set itself by committing to reduce net immigration to the tens of thousands from the current level of almost 200,000.
Home secretary forced to “water down” immigration speech
The Financial Times reports today that home secretary Teresa May was forced to “water down” her first major speech on immigration last week, after an intervention from Downing Street and business secretary Vince Cable. Unnamed sources within the government told the FT that May’s original speech was “over the top” – with particular objections to passages which attacked the level of Tier 1 visas.
More immigration cap anger from small businesses
Fast-growing small businesses are the latest group to speak out against the immigration cap, saying the restrictions on hiring non-EU migrants are forcing them to turn away work because they are unable to hire the right people. The news follows twin criticisms of the cap last week from the prime minister’s election speechwriter and the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee.
Woolas represents toxic Labour: but he shouldn’t be barred from standing again
The Woolas case raise an interesting question for the Labour party: if the electorate become hostile to civil liberties, should we? Michael Harris examines the issue.
More government confusion over impact of immigration cap
There is further uncertainty over how the government will achieve its stated goal of reducing net immigration to the “tens of thousands” – an aim reiterated by David Cameron in a speech on new technology in east London this afternoon. Yesterday, the prime minister said intra-company transfers would be exempted from the immigration cap – an area over which immigration minister Damian Green came unstuck on Newsnight last night.
Coalition should abandon immigration cap or redefine the target
The Home Affairs Committee’s Immigration Cap report sets out some striking findings about the minimal impact the cap will have in achieving the coalition government’s policy objective of reducing net migration.
Cameron’s election speechwriter slams immigration cap
There’s a punchy Evening Standard column from Ian Birrell today challenging the government’s immigration cap as “the sort of gesture politics that makes some sense in opposition but turns out to be nonsense in government”. The author might claim to know something about the pressure to make such political gestures, having been David Cameron’s speechwriter during the 2010 election campaign.