Ealing North
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Steve Pound MP Ealing North |
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The Truth on Immigration February 2005 - Gazette Article Immigration is the issue of the day. I’m getting more and more letters and ‘phone calls from people who take the most extreme views on the subject but, in between, there are those who are genuinely concerned and fearful. My views have always been pretty straightforward. I recognise that this country has benefited massively from emigration and I believe that we absolutely must respect the 1951 United Nations Convention that gives asylum to those fleeing for their lives. However my Friday evening surgeries sometimes test the most liberal resolve. I do find it hard to accept that a person can claim asylum in the United Kingdom and then set off a process of “chain migration” in which any number of relatives then apply to join their family member in this country. A husband or wife and a child are surely entitled to join their spouse or parent but how do you address the issue of the person I saw last week who wanted to bring twenty-seven cousins into the UK? In some ways the advice surgery is the best way to see the realities of immigration policy and in some ways it is the worst. I certainly see those who are cynically seeking to manipulate the system and I have no compunction in telling them that I will not support them. I also see those who still bear the scars of torture and have that distinctive thousand yard stare of the traumatised. These are not numbers on a list or names on a page. They are real people and I often wish that those who blithely utter phrases such as “send ‘em all back” could hear some of the harrowing stories that are told to me on Friday evenings at the Greenford Hall. The reality is so different to the tabloid headline. In 1996 only 20% of those whose applications had been refused were removed from the UK, in 2004 it was over 50%. This is despite the fact that 75% of asylum seekers have no documents and no countries that will accept them back. I quite accept that we are near to being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of asylum applications but we are getting a grip on the situation by any objective test. It may be heartbreaking but we simply have to accept that there are rules and the people traffickers have to accept that they cannot take thousands of dollars to dump the vulnerable on our shores in the expectation that the UK will automatically grant asylum. Managed migration is another issue altogether. To get an idea of the scale we should recognise that seven and a half million people a year visit the UK legally and legitimately, ninety million pass through our airports and the three hundred thousand people who come here to study pay the UK handsomely for their education while the 140,000 who come here to work do the jobs that we are just not willing to do or where we cannot find people with the skills. Imagine the Health Service without Indian Doctors! I welcome those who play by the rules and apply to work in this country. We should welcome and cherish them. Those who step outside the law should expect no favours and I think that the government has spelled this out loud and clear this week. Charles Clarke will be attacked for the steps that he has taken to tighten controls but I happen to believe that our helping hand and safe haven for the asylum seeker has to be matched by a firmness and determination of purpose when it comes to illegal immigration. We’ve a lot to be proud of in this country but we have to spell out the facts of life sometimes and the current debate should leave no-one in any doubt that this country is a good neighbour and can be a welcoming friend but will never be a soft touch. |
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| Disclaimer | Copyright | Designed by Bassam Mahfouz. Promoted by Julian Bell, The Labour Party, Ruskin Hall, 16 Church Road, W3 8PP on behalf of Steve Pound MP |
