MAIL COMMENT: How Labour has hammered the poor

For a measure of just how dramatically New Labour has changed the face of Britain, look no further than the startling immigration figures unearthed by the independent House of Commons library.

They show that new arrivals have soared eight-fold compared with the last decade of Tory rule. (Call that well over ten-fold when you add the illegal immigrants who have sneaked in beneath the official statisticians' radar.)

No wonder Britain's public services are creaking under the strain.

Job adverts in Polish: 'It's the poorest areas which feel the pressures on schools, housing, jobs...'

Nor can ministers claim that EU rules have left them powerless to stem the tide. On the contrary, the figures show the great majority of migrants have come from outside Europe.

In short, the Government had every means of restricting numbers to a manageable level.

It simply chose not to  -  with consequences now being felt all over Britain.

And, of course, it's the poorest areas which feel the pressures on schools, housing, jobs, healthcare and social cohesion most keenly.

Indeed, haven't the Tories struck upon a great truth when they argue that, in so many areas, shamefully the poor have suffered worse under Labour  -  the very party founded to protect their interests?

By almost every yardstick, the gap between the haves and the have-nots has grown over the past decade.

As the Tories point out, the poorest fifth of households now pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than any other group.

Meanwhile, the gap in life expectancy between rich and poor is at its widest since the Victorian era.

As for education, a huge gulf has opened up between pupils from the poorest areas and those who live in the middle-class enclaves inhabited by Labour ministers.

Doesn't it tell you all you need to know about Labour's betrayal of the poor that, throughout the country, only 176 pupils eligible for free school meals scored three top grades in their A-Levels this summer?

But then is that really surprising, when in Britain's most deprived areas there are schools where only a tiny proportion of pupils speak English as a first language?

Today, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne will set out the Tories' approach to restoring fairness in Britain, calling for greater equality of opportunity and a switch of emphasis from state handouts to fair rewards for honest effort.

Though the details are disappointingly vague, the direction must surely be right. But may we also have a firm commitment to ease the pressure on our poorest communities of mass, unrestricted immigration?

Bins and bureaucracy

At first glance, it seems an excellent idea that town halls should be made to pay compensation to those they let down.

After all, why shouldn't we be entitled to rebates on our extortionate council taxes when local authorities fail to deliver what we pay them for  -  such as emptying our bins on time?

Forgive us, however, if we sound a note of scepticism.

Bitter experience has taught us this Government is incapable of implementing an initiative without creating a vast new bureaucracy to administer it.

What's the betting that this latest scheme will end up costing most of us far more than we gain from compensation?

Who'd want him?

Last night at Bangkok airport, serial paedophile Gary Glitter was strongly resisting all efforts to drag him home.

No country in its right mind would want this pervert at large on its soil. All we can hope is that, wherever he ends up, he will be locked away until he ceases to be a threat to children