Britannist

From today's Guardian:

The speakers at today's London rally include Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor , the (Roman Catholic) Archbishop of Westminster; the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Rev Tom Butler (Anglican); the secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Muhammad Abdul Bari; Lady Williams of the Liberal Democrats; Labour MPs Jon Cruddas and John Battle; and trade union leaders Jack Dromey and Dave Prentis and singer Billy Bragg.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/immigratio...074078,00.html

Britannist adds: As a Roman Catholic (RC), let me say that the sooner Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (mentioned above) gets the boot from the top job in the English/Welsh RC Church, the better.

Britannist

More on this 'rights for illegal immigrants' march from today's Independent (brief extract):

The pressure group Migrationwatch, which strongly opposes the campaign, said the Home Office estimates were out of date, and a more accurate estimate of the numbers in this country who could benefit from an amnesty is more than one million.

"The Government's policy is to strengthen measures against employers of illegal workers and to tighten access to health and education services," a spokesman for Migrationwatch said. Extending access to welfare state for illegal immigrants could cost £1.5bn a year and add a million to the housing lists, he said.

The article in the Independent can be read at:

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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/pol...cle2519084.ece

eublues

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor should be ashamed of his weasel words on this. "I'm not calling for an amnesty ... but ... it's up to governments but ... ".

Has he not heard that charity begins at home. Looking after the jobs of British people should be his prime concern.

Of course, the top and bottom of it is that immigration is good for his business.

Andrew Constantine

Britannist

The English Democarts would be full square behind Migration Watch's view that such an amnesty would be a terrible idea. Those countries that have agreed to such amnesties have suffered from increased illegal immigration after.

Regards

Andrew

PD What has the Cardinal done wrong in your view? I thought he was well respected...

Britannist

That's good to know. And of course, illegals over here that were eventually allowed to become British subjects ('citizens') would be able to move to other EU nations. Which isn't fair on those countries. Just as amnesties given to illegals in Spain which have been been followed by the granting of Spanish 'citizenship' to those people has resulted in them having a right - through EU rules - to come here to the UK (as many of them unfortunately appear to have done).

In a word - he's a europhile :evil: . For a start he employed a key supporter of the EU who used to work for Blair in Downing Street as his assistant for almost a year (before the person left voluntarily to get another job).

He is also a liberal :x and my understanding is that The Vatican wants less of them (and quite right of them too).

Britannist

I would suggest that a large majority of the illegal immigrants here are not even Christians so won't be "good for his business" (quoted from the above extract). Roman Catholic churches in certain areas of the UK are fuller as a result of the Polish influx - but those people are not illegal immigrants of course (having entered our nation under EU rules).

eublues

He himself said a lot of them were Catholics.

Britannist

Have you got a link/verifiable source for that claim please?