Britannist

From BBC 1 Television Ceefax (analogue page 105 at 8.33 pm on 22.8.2006)

About 600, 000 people have come to work in the UK from eight (east european) nations which joined the EU in 2004, says Home Office minister Tony McNulty.

New figures show that 447, 000 people from Poland and the seven other new EU states have applied to work in the UK. But Mr. McNulty said the figures would be nearer 600, 000 if self-employed workers – such as builders –were included.

He said the migrants were helping the UK economy, but the figures will fuel fears about strains on public services.

On 1.5.2004, 10 countries joined the EU and its citizens gained new rights of movement and work across the EU. The UK put in place measures to regulate migrants from eight of the countries – those from eastern europe.

Nationals from ‘Accession 8’ countries (the eight eastern european nations which entered the EU on 1.5.2004) who were seeking jobs had to register with the Worker Registration Scheme and access to benefits was restricted.

By 30.6.2006, there were 447, 000 applicants to the Workers Registration Scheme. This figure does not include self-employed workers.

Of the 447, 000 EU migrants who registered for work in the UK, 427, 095 had their applications approved and are from the following countries: 264, 650 come from Poland. This represents 62% of the total but Poland has the biggest population – 38.5 million.

The next largest number comes from Lithuania, where 50, 535 people from a population of just 3.6 million have moved to the UK to find work. 44, 300 new migrants have arrived from Slovakia and 26, 745 from Latvia.

Despite having the second largest population of the new EU members (in eastern europe) after Poland, the Czech Republic has seen a smaller number of its workers – 22, 555, register for a new life in the UK.

Hungary has contributed 12, 870 of the successful applications to the UK’s Worker Registration Scheme.

5, 110 new workers have registered from Estonia.

The smallest number of arrivals in the UK have come from Slovenia, with just 420 people registered for work.

Of the east european migrants in the UK 95, 865 work in factories, 25, 215 in warehouses and 24, 130 are packers.

24, 090 are kitchen or catering assistants and 15, 840 area waiters

20, 430 are cleaners, while 13, 585 are maids/room attendants in hotels.

18, 105 have found employment in UK farms.

* The Press Association reported on 22.8.2006 that separate figures released (on 22.8.2006 and which cover all foreigners) showed that the number of permit holders and dependants let into the UK in 2005 increased to 137, 000 – and there was an increase in the number of people coming to the UK to settle – 179, 210.

The Blair regime is also claiming that asylum applications fell by 15% in the second quarter of 2006 (compared to the first quarter). The number of asylum applications between April and June 2006 was 5, 490 (not including spouses and children). The Labour Government claims that this is the lowest figure since 1993 (when there were 5, 280).

Britannist

The following comments were made about the above immigration figures (notice the rudeness from europhile Digby Jones to Sir Andrew Green (MigrationWatch head) and the ludicrous remark of Jones about Bulgaria and Romania joining the EU “family”. Notice also the insulting comments by pro-EU Jones that workers in the UK are “fat and lazy”):

Damien Green MP, the Conservative spokesman on immigration, said on Channel Four Television News at 7.12 pm on 22.8.2006 “There are one million under-25’s in the UK not in education or training. I am in favour of fully open borders in the EU – but we need a gradual transition.”

Sir Digby Jones, the former Chairman of the Confederation of British Industry, said on Channel Four Television News at 7.12 pm on 22.8.2006 “They (the east europeans) are not taking our jobs. They are doing jobs people here don’t want – like fruit picking and being waiters. But we have to look at if our public services can sustain any more.”

Frank Field, the eurosceptic Labour MP, said on Channel Four Television News at 7.12 pm on 22.8.20906 “There may be a bit of truth in some of these sweeping statements from Sir Digby Jones (the pro-immigration and pro-EU former Chairman of the Confederation of British Industry) but of all graduate nurses in my (Birkenhead) constituency none have got jobs. We don’t have a managed (immigration) policy. We are training more nurses and doctors but not limiting (nurses and doctors) from coming in. Even Sir Digby Jones says that we have to be careful on the huge influx from eastern europe.”

Sir Digby Jones, europhile and former Chairman of the Confederation of British Industry, said on Sky Television News at 8.13 pm on 22.8.2006 “The rest of the world, including the UK, is fat, lazy and complacent. There will be wage inflation if we don’t bring in eastern european workers. We’ve made a success in the UK of quality immigration over 300 years. The Royal Family are immigrants. I share the concern over Bulgaria and Romanian workers coming here in large numbers (when the two countries enter the EU). That’s a different matter. We must say to Romania and Bulgaria you are joining the EU and you must come into the family.”

Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of MigrationWatch, the independent immigration monitoring service, said on Sky Television News at 8.14 pm on 22.8.2006 “The (Blair Labour) Government has miscalculated and got it (the projection on how many would come to the UK from eastern europe) by a factor of 20. If it was just 30, 000 a year coming in to fill the occasional gap that we might be able to deal with. We already have 300, 000 coming from the rest of the world apart from eastern europeans. That’s almost the population of our second city, Birmingham. Over the next 20 years, 1.5 million houses will be built in the UK – all to house immigrants. Most of these houses will be built on the green belt. Some people (including in the Government) have lost touch with reality. A leading Professor in Cambridge says that the Government case for immigration is false. Immigrants have a negative effect overall on the economy.” In response to rude claims from Sir Digby Jones that Sir Andrew was talking “nonsense”, Sir Andrew stated “British people won’t pick fruit because the wages are too low. We can buy fruit from the ‘third world’ – it would help the poor in those countries. What he (Sir Digby Jones) says is facile. University graduates in the UK can’t get jobs here. Large scale immigration is nailing wages to the floor. The Bank of England says that 80% of eastern european workers in the UK are on £6 an hour making it difficult to move 4 million people (in the UK) from welfare to work. The effect on the UK economy of the eastern european influx is neutral. Immigrants add to (economic) production – but also to numbers (and costs). There is nothing to gain to keeping migrant workers (from eastern europe) here to keep marginal (i.e. failing) industries going. We do not need immigration in anything remotely like the numbers we have seen coming in. Sir Digby Jones is talking complete nonsense (by saying that we won’t get the fruit picked unless we let in 600, 000 eastern european migrants).”

Frank Field, the eurosceptic Labour MP, said on BBC 1 Television News at 10.04 pm on 22.8.2006 “There is a new servant class group here. That group is better off than at any time since the 1920’s. It benefits from cheap labour from eastern europe. But if you are lower down - then things are difficult (regarding wealth, salary, employment etc.)”

A middle-aged man in the street in the north of England said on BBC 1 Television News at 10.06 pm on 22.8.2006 "We should put our own people first. It's about time we put British people first."

Rory Jones, reporter, said on BBC 1 Television News at 10.08 pm on 22.8.2006 “More came here (from eastern europe) that Britain predicted.” * Notice the BBC pro-Government bias – it is the fault of the country for getting the influx projection wrong (according to the BBC) – not the UK Blair Labour Government (which is not mentioned).

David Grossman, reporter, said on BBC 2 Television Newsnight on 22.8.2006 at 10.32 pm (in a report which started off with presenter Gavin Esler saying east european workers in the UK are underpaid and under-counted) “At Victoria Coach Station in London, 18 out of 30 coach companies operating out of there are from the 8 eastern european nations which entered the EU on 1.5.2004. The UK Government’s prediction of 15, 000 coming here was a hopeless underestimate. Many eastern europeans in the UK intend to bring their families here once settled. The (UK) Government has left it too late regarding Poland and eastern europe who joined the EU on 1.5.2004 – but it can restrict those who might try to come to the UK from Bulgaria and Romania (when Bulgaria and Romania join the EU in 2007).”

Damien Green MP, Conservative immigration spokesman, said on BBC 2 Television Newsnight on 22.8.2006 at 10.32 pm “The effect of the (Blair Labour) Government’s massive failure is felt across the UK. People turning up for school who can’t speak English for instance.”

Sir Digby Jones, former head of the Confederation of British Industry, said on BBC 2 Television Newsnight at 10.35 pm on 22.8.2006 “You won’t get the fruit picked or houses built if the eastern european migrant workers all go home. We pay less for our mortgages because they are here. They are keeping wage inflation down.” Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler pointed out (to Jones) “These are middle class concerns. What about the UK workers who say the eastern europeans are taking their jobs?” Jones snapped arrogantly “We’ve become fat, lazy, complacent and picky.”

Frank Field, the Labour MP who has called for restrictions on immigration from Bulgaria and Romania (when they enter the EU in 2007), said on BBC 2 Television Newsnight at 10.38 pm on 22.8.2006 “It’s not just eastern european immigrants. The UK is taking an equal number from the rest of the world. Over one million in total (from eastern european and the rest of the world) have come here (in recent times). This is totally new territory. Without being prompted, people are saying immigration is the number one issue.”

Ursula Gacek, an opposition Senator in Poland, told BBC 2 Television Newsnight at 10.39 pm on 22.8.2006 “We are feeling the negative aspects of the brain drain (from Poland to the UK) – builders, nurses have gone to the UK and we are experiencing a youth drain. Spain, Greece and Portugal opened up their labour markets this year (to eastern europeans). The pressure will ease when Germany and Austria open up.” When asked by Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler if the Polish migrant workers in the UK would return to Poland to a fifth of the salary they are paid in the UK, Miss Gacek replied “The market in Poland is reacting. Already one Polish man has opened an office in London to get Poles to return to work for a business in their home country.”

Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of MigrationWatch (the independent immigration monitoring service), said on BBC 2 Television Newsnight at 10.40 pm on 22.8.2006 “We should impose a transition period of 7 years on Bulgarian and Romania (who join the EU in 2007). We should not accept their workers in the UK for seven years. We cannot absorb at this rate.”

Lord Bruce-Lockhart, a Kent Conservative and Chairman of the Local Government Association, said (at 10.41 pm on BBC 2 Television Newsnight on 22.8.2006) (when asked by Gavin Esler, Newsnight presenter, if council taxes would go up as a result of the huge eastern european influx) “There are 25 (local) councils which we are particularly concerned about. There has been a huge increase in the number of asylum seekers and people coming to the UK from eastern europe. There are seven million people in the UK which the Government classifies as economically inactive. Surely we should be helping them (to find jobs instead of bringing in people from eastern europe)?"

Sir Digby Jones, former Chairman of the Confederation of British Industry, said at 10.43 pm on BBC 2 Television Newsnight on 22.8.2006 when asked by Newsnight presenter, Gavin Esler, if the eastern europeans would end up unemployed and on benefits in the UK if there were to be an economic downturn “I’m not sure that there will be an economic downturn.” Jones did concede that the UK Blair Labour Government was losing public confidence over the truthfulness of the figures (on immigration from eastern europe). He urged caution on letting in migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania (both due to enter in the EU in 2007) and pointed out that there were high levels of corruption in Bulgaria and Romania.

Paul Mason, reporter, said on BBC 2 Television Newsnight at 10.45 pm on 22.8.2006 “Sir Mervyn Green, the Director of the Bank of England, says that employers (in the UK) are opening new low wage businesses in the UK (that otherwise might not be there) and these businesses pull workers to the UK from eastern europe. One in every fifty Poles who work are employed in the UK."

Ann Leslie, the Daily Mail columnist, said on Sky Television News at 11.35 pm on 22.8.2006 “It is unsustainable (the huge influx of migrant workers from eastern europe). I was accused by the (leftist) Guardian of being a ‘little Englander’ for saying this before – but now the majority of people agree with me. The middle class and the fruit farms in the UK love the cheap labour that comes from eastern europe. Low paid immigrants keep the wages down. But it is unsustainable because they (the immigrants) settle here after a year or so and then bring their families over.”

Sky Television News said at 3 am on 23.8.2006 “The (UK) Government grossly underestimated the number of eastern european migrant workers that would come to the UK after their nations entered the EU on 1.5.2004.”

* Salary comparisons (as in August 2006): Production Worker salary per month: Poland £208. UK £951. Waiter salary per month: Poland £260. UK £1982. Bus driver salary per month: Poland £330. UK £1427.

Brief Facts on the figures on immigration from eastern europe to the UK released on 22.8.2006: 62% of eastern european migrant workers in the UK are Polish. 82% of eastern european migrant workers in the UK are young. 92% have no dependents with them. 78% are on salaries of £4.50 to £6 an hour. One in every 100 people in the UK recently came here from eastern europe.

Next countries into the EU: Concern is expressed at a large influx of migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania to the UK when the two nations enter the EU in 2007. Unemployment in Bulgaria is 10%. The number of unemployed in Romania is 7.8%. The average wage in Romania is £184 a month. BBC 1 Television news said on 22.8.2006 at 10.08 pm that it some forecasts said that 175, 000 workers from Bulgaria and Romania might try to enter the UK after their nations joined the EU.

John Page

Do you ever sleep?

Britannist

Yes, but not always at the same time as everyone else :shock: 8) .