Posted on 04/18/2007 8:04:57 AM PDT by blam
Immigration has 'deeply unsettled' Britain
By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor, and Richard Holt
Last Updated: 8:36am BST 18/04/2007
Labour's immigration minister has conceded that the record inflow of immigrants could be harming the worse off and has ''deeply unsettled the country''.
Liam Byrne has also revealed that a new points-based system, aimed at ensuring that only migrants with in-demand skills enter the UK, will come into operation in the New Year.
Mr Byrne admits in an article that the immigration is now near the top of the list of voter worries - and could cost Labour power.
He says it is ''not racist'' to debate immigration - even though Labour attacked the Tories for raising it during the 2001 general election.
Mr Byrne's comments, in a pamphlet to be published by the Policy Network think-tank, mark the latest milestone in a staged Labour retreat from the immigration policy it has embraced since 1997. A few years ago, David Blunkett, the former home secretary, said there was ''no obvious upper limit'' to the numbers that could come legally to Britain.
But Mr Byrne says: ''We have to accept that laissez faire migration risks damaging communities where parts of our anti-poverty strategy come under pressure.
"When a junior school, such as the school in Hodge Hill in my own constituency in Birmingham, sees its population of children with English as a second language rise from five per cent to 20 per cent in a year, then boosting standards in some poorer communities gets harder.''
Mr Byrne also challenges the idea that immigration concerns have been media driven. ''The only problem with the 'it's all the media' thesis is that it is not quite true,'' he writes.
''During the 1990s, the UK did change from being a country of net emigration to being one of net immigration - 2.4 million people left Britain and 3.4 million came in.''
He said the change had brought ''enormous economic benefits'' and had contributed to economic growth.
But he added: ''The step-change in public concern about immigration has been one of the most dramatic aspects of the changing political agenda since Labour came to power.
In 1997, the EU, unemployment, education and the NHS led the list of issues that voters said were vital. Ten years on, the issue list looks different - crime, race relations and defence have rocketed up the table.''
Polls have consistently shown around 40 per cent of voters rating immigration as their top concern.
''Here are a set of changes which have made Britain richer but have deeply unsettled the country,'' Mr Byrne said.
Figures due to be published by the Office for National Statistics tomorrow will show that net immigration in 2005 was close to 200,000 - four times the number when Labour took office in 1997.
At the present rate of immigration, the population of Britain will grow by 12 million in 40 years - an unprecedented rate of increase.
The new points-based system for would-be migrants is part of a strategy announced by John Reid, the Home Secretary, last year with the aim of ensuring that incomers bring with them the skills needed by the UK economy
Mr Reid met Francois Baroin, his French counterpart, in London yesterday amid concern over plans for a new refugee centre in Calais, fearing it will become a ''second Sangatte''.
A Home Office spokesman said the two ministers had reaffirmed their opposition to "any type of centre that could encourage the trafficking of illegal immigrants".
So put a stop to it. Shouldn’t be that hard for an Island.
PC will only end once the muslims take over.
“So put a stop to it. Shouldn’t be that hard for an Island.”
Shouldn’t hard for anyone with the will to do it. America is just slightly behind England. Everyone seems to welcome our demise including many Americans. Massive immigration is just the ticket. Multiculturalism and diversity is our strength is one of the biggest lies ever told.
Somewhere Enoch Powell is smiling.
Headline is a major understatement. Will the powers that be in the UK now apologize to Enoch Powell?
Besides the Sikhs and the Gujaratis are outearning and outperforming their white English counterparts in terms of education and income. The Pakis are quite another story...
Effect, meet cause.
Actually, Enoch Powell was wrong on one point: Immigrants who had value systems (but not skin color) in common with the Brits have successfully integrated. Its when you bring in those with few skills and a proclivity towards “the Religion of Peace” that you have a problem.
Duh.
Interesting. Thanks for posting.
c) Preparations for jihad: Beginning of geographic no-go areas for the police and public administration officials. Frequent physical attacks and even single infrequent murders of policemen or persons opposing political Islam. Death threats against adversaries are common. An increasing physical destruction of property by groups, influenced by the radical imams and the jihadists.
Besides frequent proposals to introduce sharia laws, we find established “private” sharia courts in certain areas judging matters of special interest to Muslims. Property crimes of various types in order to finance the beginning of a domestic jihad movement.
Current examples: France; beginning in England, Holland.
More here...
http://www.islam-watch.org/NoSharia/PreventEuropeIslamization1.htm
Many, many thanks to NoSharia.
"As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see 'the River Tiber foaming with much blood'. That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the century. Only resolute and urgent action will avert it even now. Whether there will be the public will to demand and obtain that action, I do not know. All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal."
Just so. In some ways, I suspect that your average English bloke may resent Polish immigrants more than Muslim immigrants, because the Poles are competing for jobs and eager for work, whereas the Muslims just vanish into the ghetto, collect welfare, and prepare to take over the country.
And the Poles tend to be Catholics, which many English are more inclined to hate than Muslims.
The real question is, who can fit in down the line? Who will help the country and not destroy it? Not what color are they?
Big #*$&@)$#*$#* and sudden surprise!
But even more interesting in this day and age is the very subtle hints of the Islamic conquest of Britain, as the neightborhoods these people grew up in are now "different", and you see a few shots of women in Burka's walking around.
You could see it in the eyes of those that made mention of it, that they were definintely bothered by what was going on. As if they could sense a threat to thier society and cultue. Some tried to excuse it, others did not like it, and some did not really talk about it, though, again, there were some subtlties in how they moved around it.
Ivan: I wanted to ping you to this thread for your comments, if you have any. I do believe you love in GB.
Save yourselves!
Not just England. We have a world wide immigration problem.
Border Security, War on Terror Are Top Issues for Conservatives
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1816795/posts
Of the nineteen issues listed, Border Security/Immigration was the top choice with 38%. In second was War on Terror at 32%. Moral Decline was the third choice at 9%.
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