What Conservatives think about Immigration in the UK

Topic 1: Immigration
Immigration to the United Kingdom in the 21st century is larger and more diverse than at any point in its history. The earlier UK immigration policies have been at best confusing, archaic and generally open to the 1/3rd of the Worlds Population, as it covered the whole British Empire. From the very beginning when the Aliens Act 1905[1] was passed, the Conservatives have been in favour of high restrictions on immigration. The 1948 Act was amended to tighten immigration controls aimed at restricting the ability of Common Wealth country citizens to enter and reside in the UK. Subsequently the Conservatives were able to pass 2 laws in 1962 and 1968 to extend these restrictions[2]. Today the population of UK is estimated to be the third largest in Europe and 2/3 rd of the increased population is due to immigrants
[3]

. Net immigration contributed 1.8 million people to the UK population

over a period of only 10 years. Over 100,000 (One Hundred Thousand) and in some years over 200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand) migrants come to UK. In addition to these legal figures there is an equally sizeable portion of illegal immigration. Since 2004, immigration levels have been boosted by an extraordinary wave of mobility from Eastern European countries. The government responded by implementing a Points-Based System and other measures to control the flow of immigration. From securing borders to meeting labour market needs, immigration control involves very complex challenges. In May 2010, the UK government announced its intention to implement an annual limit or cap on immigration into the country. It is this Government's aim to reduce the level of net migration back down to the levels of the 1990s when there were tens of thousands of immigrants each year, not hundreds of thousands[4]. Starting on 6 April 2011 the first cap was introduced which aims at reducing the amount of skilled labour immigration from outside the EU into the UK. The cap has been set at 24,100 for non-EEA economic immigrants only, those in Tier 1 - highly-skilled immigrants and Tier 2 skilled immigrants [5]. Some have criticized these measures stating that the economic benefits and growth of the UK will be affected due to the implementation of the CAP. They say, a Cap will have adverse effect on the strength of the UKs business environment, based on which 50% of the European headquarters are in UK. The Cap will make recruitment difficult which will have a knock on impacts on employment, recovery and tax revenues to the Exchequer. Opposing views are that there should not be any restrictions for businesses to get the required skills as this will ultimately harm UK economic competitiveness. Some argue, what is the point of a cap when we have unlimited immigration from the EU. But immigration from EU is only 1/3rd of the total immigration and over time the flows will equalize between countries. There is a strong public desire to control migration in terms of absolute numbers and to limits its impact. Its a fact that young people coming out of universities cannot find jobs. The question of migration should be addressed after taking into account issues like skills base and the benefits system. Skills base is available in UK then why is it not possible to for British Industry to find relevant skills within UK and why there is a need to go abroad when there are so many people here with skills. Changes to the immigration system should be done in consultation with employers and educators to ensure that over a long term universities and companies generate the type of training and skills that will be taken up immediately. This will mitigate the much feared brain-drain scenario envisioned by some. The Conservative Party believes in the economic and cultural benefits that come from immigration, but it has to be controlled and limited to ensure that the pressures on public services is kept to a

reasonable level. The Conservatives support the cap policy and also the other measures being implemented which will optimise the benefits of immigration by limiting its negative impacts: The Primary Purpose Rule The policy of setting an annual maximum limit to those who can settle indefinitely in the UK Security of ports preventing unlawful migration into the UK to be increased to a full 24 hours per day Asylums to follow an annual quota of approximately 20,000 ad no longer be determined by the Border Agency, but rather by offshore agencies A point system based on skill shortages similar to Australia for granting work permits to migrants

Citations:
[1] Lord Goldsmith QC, Citizenship: Our Common bond, UK Ministry of Justice, March 2008, 13 [2] Lord Goldsmith 15-16 [3] Steve Doughty, UK grows by 500,000 every year annual population increases fuelled by immigration, equals city the size of Leeds Daily Mail, October 26 2011 [4] http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmhaff/361/36104.htm#a1 [5] UK Border Agency, First annual limit on non-EU workers comes into force to reduce immigration into the UK April 6 2011 [6] The conservative Manifesto 2010, UK Conservative Party, 2010, 21.