Immigration Still Too Hot To Handle

The political hot potato of immigration is set to be sidelined once again. Instead political parties prefer to burying heads in the sand and ignore one of the key issues on which voters want answers and clear solutions.

A cross party group of MPs is having a stab it today. But as an election issue, it's still too hot to handle.

"Poll after poll shows the public to be deeply concerned about immigration and its impact on our population," says Labour's Frank Field and Tory Nicholas Soames.

The unlikely bedfellows are part of a cross-party group of around 20 MPs and peers backing a campaign calling for curbs on immigration. But calls to make manifesto pledges not to allow the UK's population to exceed 70 million are likely to fall on deaf ears.

At the heart is former minister Field's long held view that unless restricted, current immigration rates will impact on public services and quality of life.

The problems of immigration won't go away. So groups like the BNP will continue to exploit the issue. As Lord Carey points out, uncapped immigration plays into their hands.

What is needed is open and healthy debate. Face up to the consequences of large-scale immigration and the urgent decisions the country needs to make. Fat chance.

The freedom to discuss one of the burning issues of the day has been hi-jacked by a warped sense of political correctness. England is destined to descend into a unrecognisable region of a 'multicultural' EU.

The abuse of our immigration and asylum system and how successive governments have done little about it is scandalous. The consequences grossly unfair to hard working decent people from whatever social or cultural background..

Most recent election campaigns have failed to bring to the fore a crucial issue voters reckon is among the most important facing the country.

The cross-party Balanced Migration Group warns that current levels of immigration into the UK were "unprecedented" and threatened the "future harmony of our society".

The government must "restore control" over the UK's borders and "break the present almost automatic link between coming to Britain and later gaining citizenship".

But that will require far tighter controls on immigration. Setting population targets are deemed 'unrealistic and counter-productive'.

The lies and deceit of 'open door' immigration was laid bare by former Blair speechwriter Neather, who claimed ministers had allowed immigration to rocket.

'Neathergate' blew the lid off a decade of minister's mealy-mouthed denials of a deliberate 'unchecked' immigration policy. An excuse to create a 'multicultural' Britain and rub the Tories noses in it.

The shameful 'unchecked' immigration policy was exposed in a telling probe by The Sunday Times, suggesting the 'smoking gun' of a vote-rigging scam. A deliberate, covert policy to change the country’s demographics, deliberately using 'unchecked' immigration to puff up New Labour share of the voting cake.

The Orange Party has no problems with controlled immigration to the UK for a better life and to alleviate a skilled shortage. But to entice over hapless workers for a pittance to prop up the feel good factor of the false boom years is a despicable act.

A frank admission that immigration is out of control would be a useful place to start.

The current crisis has nothing to do with those who have arrived and settled in the UK. It is centred on the sheer numbers of those still coming whether legally or illegally. The effect on local communities expected to accommodate them and on limited resources is devastating.

The UK's current problems with immigration stems from EU membership. The country has to recover control of its own borders from the EU.

Immigration can improve our standard of living and quality of life. But a line must be drawn somewhere, particularly when uncontrolled immigration robs other countries of their labour force. This does not mean refusing to admit new arrivals. What is needed is a clear policy of balanced migration.

But it is the issues of exploitation and inequality which most galls the Orange Party.

In terms of available land, the UK is not overcrowded. But the vast majority of land is owned by a very few. Royal estates, the MOD and country landowners make up the bulk. Land ownership by the privileged has made the country overcrowded.

The UK has now been accepting about 250,000 immigrants a year since 1997. Yet we have three million unemployed.

Dependence on immigration depresses wages and only helps the bosses. Those who compete with economic migrants in the labour market tend to be 'poor' and on a low wages. Those who employ them tend to be ‘rich’.

The Orange Party rejects the argument that foreign labour is the only alternative if a job is so badly paid no UK worker will do it. The answer is to fight for better pay and improved conditions in those industries.

Last year the Office for National Statistics said if current trends continued, the UK population would rise by 10 million to more than 71.6 million by 2033 - the fastest rise in a century.

The majority of people oppose mass immigration. Yet anyone proposing immigration controls is swiftly branded a 'racist'. A neat device to brush the issue under the carpet. And for this election it seems that is where it will remain.