Frank Field delivers 'five-point plan' to tackle immigration levels

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Central Government and also in Communities

A five-point plan to reduce the level of immigration into Britain was put forward in the Commons today.

Labour former minister Frank Field, co-chairman of the all-party group on balanced migration, urged the Government to clamp down on student numbers, people coming to the UK without a job, staff transfers within companies, the post-study route and marriages.

Mr Field said successive governments had been "negligent" in failing to realise the impact of an open door policy, and that his proposals would help prevent immigration from increasing the UK's population.

The intervention came as the independent body asked to recommend a level for the Government's proposed immigration cap said the number of migrant workers coming to Britain from outside the EU should be cut by between 13% and 25% next year.

Professor David Metcalf, of the Migration Advisory Committee, also said visas for workers with job offers should be prioritised over those without work to come to, and that family and student migration should also be cut.

The Government has pledged to reduce net migration from last year's 196,000 to "tens of thousands" by 2015 but businesses and education chiefs have raised concerns that a cap could make it harder to attract elite scientists and world-class researchers to the UK.

Mr Field said the debate was "about numbers", both in Westminster and in the country at large.

"I don't think we should duck the political failure of this place and of successive governments of having their wits about them that we were in a new ball game when you open your doors to mass immigration - we were negligent," he told MPs.

The impact of immigration on population was evident in many areas, he said, such as the fact that 25% of all births are to women not born here
- rising to 50% in London.

Overcrowding in maternity wards, "real pressure" on primary school places, and 40% of new households formed by immigrants at a time of growing waiting lists for social housing were also evidence.

"We actually want to deal with these issues in a way which doesn't want to shoot us in the foot - or even worse in the head - by calling for controls, calling for further restrictions which do actually result in an impairment of the necessary recovery on which many of our constituents depend," Mr Field said before putting forward his suggestions.

Student numbers were up 26% on last year to 362,000, he said, adding: "I'm asking the Government to focus on what are clearly bogus colleges, who have realised that they can sell courses which in brackets say 'Entry to the UK' on them, and from there you can actually disappear in the UK labour market."

So-called Tier 1 visas allowing highly-skilled migrants to come to the UK to look for work should be reassessed "immediately", with Mr Field saying: "I think that is totally unsatisfactory given our level of unemployment."

Intra-company transfers should only by allowed for workers earning around £50,000 a year - up from the low £20,000s - to prevent firms drafting in foreign IT workers and "offer some hope" to unemployed British IT workers.

The post-study route, where students are allowed to remain in the UK for two years to look for work, was "wonderful" in good economic times but not with high graduate unemployment and it is "totally appropriate" that it should be closed down temporarily.

And the Government "clearly" needs to look at the marriage route to entry, Mr Field said, adding: "If we were effective with the English test and so on, I think we would find the numbers presenting themselves to immigrate into this country would be a lot less."

Mr Field said: "I would wish the Government to give very serious concern to breaking the link between coming here to work and practically automatically getting the right to citizenship, because that is the route by which the population is largely being grown at the present time."

Mr Field said that the electorate felt politicians had "let them down" by opting for an open borders policy without a public debate.

"I am pleased that we are able now to have a rational debate," he said with agreement about controlling the rate of immigration.

Mr Field said immigrant workers display a "work ethic" lacking in many Britons who do not or cannot do the jobs available.

He said the latest figures showed there were 3.8 million immigrant workers in the country - "a record level" - and that had occurred "at a time, over the last period, where we have actually had a fall of 180,000 British workers at work in the labour market".

"Clearly there is something wrong with our education system that we are producing, still, large numbers of people who don't aspire, can't aspire, to the jobs that are so willingly taken by immigrants and who teach many of the host community what we used to mean by the work ethic. It's a chilling reminder."

Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said any restrictions would only apply to migrants from outside the EU, adding: "We can't do anything about 80% of the people who come into this country."

Veteran Tory Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) backed the calls for tougher marriage controls - particularly on arranged weddings - saying: "People who want to come to settle here to marry must do on the basis that they are of mature years, that they speak English, and that they want to get married to an English person because of a settled romantic attachment and not as a pawn in marriage negotiations."

But Labour's Virendra Sharma (Ealing Southall) said: "I disagree. Forty-two years ago I came to this country under arranged marriage - I'm still married to that lady ... and my children are contributing into the welfare of this country."

Mr Sharma said there were problems with the immigration system, claiming restaurants were particularly affected by difficulties in recruiting "specialist South Asian chefs".

Lib Dem Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) said the Federation of Bangladeshi Caterers was trying to train jobless people in the UK to work in Asian restaurants.

But Mr Sharma said: "There are many businesses who are trying hard ...
that is not an easy profession to teach. It takes a long time from the apprenticeship to do the proper chef job."

He also criticised the UK Border Agency for mounting "insensitive raids"
on businesses in an effort to catch illegal workers.

Tory former cabinet minister Peter Lilley said the economic benefits of mass immigration had been overstated.

"The idea that we substantially improve the wellbeing of this country by largescale immigration is simply unsubstantiated by any major study," he said.

Mr Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) compared the flow of immigration to the oil in a car's engine.

He said: "Immigration is much like a lubricant rather than a fuel. Without lubrication, a car would suffer severe damage.

"But once it has enough lubrication, adding more doesn't make it go better. Indeed it may cause problems.

"Likewise, stopping all immigration would damage the economy but beyond a certain point encouraging more immigration will not make those already here any better off."

Mr Brake said it was important to have an immigration system working "effectively and well".

He went on: "The coalition agreement is clear in restoring exit controls, that is something which I think has meant that we have never in recent years had a real handle on what is happening in immigration terms, because we simply haven't known how many people have arrived in the UK and have subsequently left.

"I hope that restoring those controls will provide us with a greater degree of clarity in relation to this issue."

He said both the Liberal Democrats and the Tories had argued for a UK border force, which he claimed would have a "major impact".

But there were still "some very difficult issues" to be addressed, including the detention of those who could not be deported from the UK because they could be tortured or killed.

Mr Brake said immigration had to be controlled but stressed: "That doesn't mean we have to pull up the drawbridge."