I don't know how we're coping with eastern European influx, Reid admits

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John Reid has admitted he has no idea how public services are coping with the unprecedented influx of 600,000 eastern Europeans.

The Home Secretary said no 'systemic' study had taken place into the enormous burden they are placing on schools, hospitals, transport and social services.

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And, despite calls from MPs and pressure groups for research into the impact they are having on towns and cities unprepared for their arrival, there are no plans to find out.

This is despite the numbers pouring in being at least 16 times the Government's original prediction of only 13,000 a year.

Mr Reid said: 'There is no systemic weighing up of the other costs against the economic benefits' Critics said it was proof the Government's 'open door' immigration policy had been driven by economics alone.

In the headlong rush for cheap labour to keep inflation and wages low, they gave no thought to how society would cope.

Shadow Immigration Minister, Damian Green, said: 'Immigration is a serious issue. It can be of real benefit to the country but only if it is properly controlled taking into account its impact on the economy and public service infrastructure.'

Mr Reid's alarming admission came at the launch of a new Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), charged with recommending how many non-EU migrants should be allowed into the country each year.

Ministers originally said the body, an independent panel of experts, would advise an the 'optimum level' of new arrivals. But they yesterday said this would not be the case, and it would not recommend any firm limit. It will advise a quota for low-skilled migrants, but not for other categories such as white-collar workers.

The MAC, due to be up and running by 2008, will attempt to rectify past mistakes by starting to consider the 'negative' social consequences of migration for the first time.

Unlike with the influx of eastern Europeans following EU expansion on May, 2004, it will consider how well schools and hospitals are coping, in addition to how many staff businesses say they need.

The body will then be expected to strike a balance which is 'fair' to public services and the demands of the economy. Ministers will be free to ignore all, or part, of its advice.

Mr Reid refused to say whether he expected its advice to lead to a fall in the current record levels of migration into the UK.

He remains powerless to do anything about the number of EU citizens arriving each year, as they have rights of free movement.

Mr Reid said: 'We are trying to combine the best of the advantages to Britain of immigration with minimising the disadvantages and make that a central balance to the management of the immigration system.

'The Government would still set the policy framework from the MAC's advice and the Government would retain control over the final decision.

'But I would like to have the MAC to give clear and authoritative advice which would carry real weight. I hope it would also carry a degree of confidence within the public which would enhance the belief among the public that we are managing migration and immigration in a fair and effective fashion.'

It came as a separate report from the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Integration revealed eastern Europeans are swamping free English language classes provided by the Government.

The classes were designed for non-EU immigrants with poor English who want to sit citizenship exams. But eastern Europeans are signing-up in huge numbers. And, because they are EU citizens with the same right to an education as a British national, they must be allowed to take part.

Enrolments by Poles alone leapt from 151 in 2002/3 to 11,044 in 2004/5 - the year the EU expanded eastwards. An estimated 50,000 eastern Europeans are arriving here year with little or no English.

The Board said the upshot was that non-EU nationals - such as people from India and Pakistan - faced huge waiting lists. One college in Liverpool has a backlog of 1,200 names.

It is leaving them unable to get the language skills they need to pass the new Britishness multiple-choice exam, which entitles those who pass to a passport.

One in every three tests - which can be sat repeatedly - is being failed. One migrant has already sat the exam, introduced last November, seven times.

The Board wants the eastern Europeans to begin taking private classes, paid for by themselves or their employer, to free up spaces on the Government courses.

Mary Coussey, who heads the board, also revealed fraudsters are selling migrants fake copies of the 24-question Britishness exam. She said: 'There are some alleged copies of the test which are absolutely not that people are selling.

'We need better information so people know they have got the genuine article and they don't waste their money buying fake test questions.'

 

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