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Immigration has unsettled the country, says minister
Last updated at 09:22am on 18.04.07
Labour's immigration minister Liam Byrne has urged for tougher action to crack down on immigration crime
Mass immigration into Britain in recent years has left the country "deeply unsettled", Labour's immigration minister has admitted.
Writing in a think tank report Liam Byrne openly acknowledged that the pace of immigration was causing problems for some public services in the UK and said "laissez-faire immigration" risked damaging communities.
He urged tougher action to crack down on immigration crime, and concluded: "It's not racist for Labour to debate immigration; it's the real world - the world in which the people we represent live in [sic]."
Tory critics welcomed what they called Mr Byrne's "belated recognition" of concerns over the scale of immigration, but accused him of empty rhetoric without action.
Liam Byrne took over as Home Office immigration minister last May at the height of the foreign prisoners fiasco, which cost former Home Secretary Charles Clarke his job.
Since then Mr Byrne has faced derision over a string of policy initiatives, including sending illegal immigrants text messages urging them to go home, while John Reid has condemned the Home Office's Immigration and Nationality Directorate which enforces immigration policy as "not fit for purpose".
Mr Byrne's latest comments came in an essay published as part of an immigration pamphlet yesterday by the left-of-centre think tank the Policy Network.
Mr Byrne acknowledged that mounting public concern over immigration could not be blamed on media scaremongering, and highlighted the "political risks" facing governments which fail to tackle such concerns, citing governments in Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands which "lost power in elections where immigration was a serious issue."
He wrote: "We live in a world where migrants move faster than ministers, and the public services in some communities can find it difficult to change as quickly as their communities are changing."
Some local authorities and schools were struggling to cope with the influx of immigrants, he said, noting that at one junior school in his own Birmingham constituency the proportion of children with English as a second language rise from five per cent to 20 per cent in just one year.
In such circumstances, he said: "Boosting standards in some of our poorest communities gets harder."
On immigration crime, he said, it was "not populist to argue for a tough enforcement of our immigration laws – it is progressive", and claimed that a "much bigger detention estate" would make it possible to lock up more offenders.
Mr Byrne called for a "more open debate about what immigration is good for Britain that takes into account its wider impact."
Opposition critics were left unimpressed by such robust rhetoric.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "We are glad the minister has belatedly recognised our concerns but tough rhetoric is no answer whatsoever.
"People are sick of Labour talking tough but acting dumb. Conservatives would talk sensibly and act robustly."
Record levels of immigration have seen the UK's immigrant population grow by around 1.5million since Labour came to power in 1997.
The decision to allow eastern European workers free access to work in the UK when the EU expanded in 2004 led to a massive influx of more than 600,000 people, making a mockery of the Government's prediction of just 13,000 a year.
Last month ministers announced that they are finally to investigate the huge impact immigration is having on schools, hospitals and "social cohesion" in the UK.
Now ministers are promising to curb the number of low-skilled workers allowed to enter the UK each year from outside the EU.
Tougher border controls are also being promised, with exit checks reintroduced for all passengers - but not until 2014 at the earliest.
Reader views (13)
for the last ten years the Labour PARTY has turned a blind eye to unregulated immigration,in fact encouraging it,because its good for the economy,people have been warning of the social consequences for British society,now that it's become a Monster at our door, the government is now trying to do something
Too little too late,the UK is in my opinion the worst run country in Europe,no country has such lax immigration policies,no wonder everybody wants to come here.we are the mugs of Europe
The UK is now known as the THE COUNCIL DUMP OF EUROPE
- Saleem Yousaf, manchester, 12/01/2010 16:53
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for the last ten years the Labour has turned a blind eye to unregulated immigration,in fact encouraging it,because its good for the economy,people have been warning of the social consequences for British society,now that it's become a Monster at our door, the government is now trying to do something.
Too little too late,the UK is in my opinion the worst run country in Europe,no country has such lax immigration policies,no wonder everybody wants to come here.we are the mugs of Europe.
The UK is now known as the THE COUNCIL DUMP OF EUROPE
- Saleem Yousaf, manchester, 12/01/2010 16:45
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Believe me, I'm a whole more unsettled about ministers' behaviour than I EVER was about immigration!
- Marianne, SW France, 18/04/2007 13:55
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Well, well, well, you don't say. The majority of people have been saying this for years.
Second point is that there is nothing that we can do about this because we are governed by EU.
- Grim Reaper, London, 18/04/2007 13:16
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Wise words indeed from the Minister for the Bleeding Obvious. Next up, Patricia Hewitt announces the NHS is in a shocking state and that something must indeed be done about it - all suggestions welcome on the back of a postcard.
- Jk, London, UK, 18/04/2007 13:13
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Let me guess... there's some sort of an election looming in the UK?
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 18/04/2007 13:10
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Whilst I understand that the UK and other developed countries have a responsibility to support those in genuine need or suffering from persecution etc, it does seem that the "unfit for purpose" Home Office has let the floodgates open with very little control at the expense of us all. Immigration - yes, but only with proper controls and checks. Current system = ineffective.
- Mark, London, 18/04/2007 13:05
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Mass immigration is a truly great thing, which is why I, like many others am emigrating to the Antipodes.
- Trevor Roll, London, 18/04/2007 12:44
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At last, some common sense from an Immigration Minister. Mass immigration benefits the rich who get cheap labour, not the poor who get pushed further down housing and hospital waiting lists and who actually find themselves living in exotic countries without even having to buy a ticket.
- Derek, London, 18/04/2007 12:44
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You don't say...
- Jay, London, 18/04/2007 12:40
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Well done minister Liam Byrne; Please go ahead with the plans to stop mass immigration. Bring in people who can help the UK grow and stop people who have no skills coming in to the country. Also introduce a fixed number for immigration like in Australia, Canada, USA, New Zealand. They are doing it well. Why can't we do it?
- Nick, London, 18/04/2007 10:43
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Totally agree. The will of the people doesn't seem to be important as far as immigration is concerned, in Britain and the US.
- Paul Gooch, Skegness UK, 18/04/2007 10:15
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I wonder how many millions it took to come to this conclusion. He could have asked most any citizen and come up with this answer. Immigration is a problem in all our countries because the governments of these GOOD countries have bent over backwards to acommidate the immigrants at the expense of the citizens. Why do these people flock into our countries, because they get FREE stuff that the citizens can't get. Another free answer for the government types. It's happening here and your country and our governments are doing nothing about the mess they have caused. It is a sad story but a true story.
- T A Paul, West Palm Beach, 18/04/2007 01:53
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