Thread: UKIP: UKIP calls for 5-year immigration freeze

Pretty positive coverage from the Daily Star:
Daily Star: Simply The Best 7 Days A Week :: Latest News :: Ukip demands immigration ban

All immigration to the UK should be halted for five years, the UK Independence Party (Ukip) has said.

The controversial proposal is contained as part of a new policy review by the party ahead of its annual conference, which is due to begin in central London.

Party leader Nigel Farage, speaking ahead of the conference, said the Government's handling of immigration from the EU had been a "shambles" and claimed "millions" of migrants had come into Britain.

As well as the moratorium, the policy also calls for migrants to be fluent in English, have educational qualifications, demonstrate loyalty to the UK and be able to support themselves with no recourse to state funds.

Ukip's main policy is to pull Britain out of the European Union, but Mr Farage is expected to tell party members that migrants are placing too much of a strain on public services.

The party wants the freeze on immigration to remain until what they see as "proper controls" are put in place.

Mr Farage said that the huge influx of migrants in recent years had left public services unable to cope with the increase in demand.

He said: "We need a five-year gap so we can absorb the recent waves of migrants, particularly from eastern Europe.

"The Government said there would only be a few thousand coming to this country, and instead it's been millions.

"The problem isn't people from outside the EU, who we can control, but the unlimited immigration from within to whom we cannot refuse entry."

The Press Association: Halt immigration - Ukip leader

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage has put immigration at the heart of his party's policy agenda ahead of a possible November General Election.
Mr Farage said he wanted to see all immigration to the UK halted for the next five years in a bid to take the strain off public services.
Addressing the Ukip annual conference in Limehouse, east London, he warned that immigration, which he said was an "absolute mess", was leading to an increase in community tension.
Britain had always been "tolerant" and had "easily absorbed" migrations, but the current movement of people, particularly from Eastern Europe, "dwarfed" anything seen previously. And he launched a scathing attack on the political class in the UK, who he said were only interested in "self perpetuation".
Those who supported demands for a referendum on the EU Treaty were "fair-weather friends" who would "melt away" over the real issue of Britain remaining in the EU, he claimed.
Mr Farage, in a 22-minute speech delivered in the unscripted style seen from David Cameron in Blackpool, admitted his party was not ready for an autumn poll.
He said: "We are not ready to fight a snap General Election, which is why you should...tell us that if you are needed you will put your name down and you will stand for us in that snap General Election."
The party had to fight the election because Ukip were the only party that believed that the best people to govern Britain were "the British people themselves."
On the subject of immigration, Mr Farage said "pressure" was being placed on public services and it was "putting an unfair burden on the citizen."
To cheers he said: "...we believe that there now needs to be a five-year moratorium on any new immigration to this country. We need that time to assess who is here legally and who is here illegally."

ePolitix.com - UKIP proposes five-year immigration ban

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) has outlined proposals to issue a five-year moratorium on immigration.
Speaking at the Party's annual conference,UKIP leader Nigel Farage unveiled the policy – one of 17 to be announced in the coming weeks – after criticising the government for its handling of immigrants arriving from the EU.
"The government said there would only be a few thousand coming to this country, and instead it's been millions," Farage said.
He added: "The problem isn't people from outside the EU, who we can control, but the unlimited immigration from within to whom we cannot refuse entry."
UKIP also want to see future immigrants becoming fluent in English, demonstrating their loyalty to Britain, possessing academic qualifications and displaying an ability to live in the UK without the assistance of state money.
Meanwhile, the Party has appointed former European Commission accountant Marta Andreasen to the role of treasurer.
The Spanish citizen is an EU critic who was sacked after exposing what she saw as a lack of control within the union over its budget in 2004.

"The government said there would only be a few thousand coming to this country, and instead it's been millions," Farage said

Millions?

BBC NEWS | Politics | East European immigration slows

On Eastern European workers, figures show a cumulative total of 683,000 applicants from nations which joined the EU after May 2004 - but that the rate of arrivals had slowed in 2007.

There is a very good summary of the Eastern European immigration situation here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/h...monitoring.pdf