Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Migrationwatch
INTRODUCTION
1. At the Committee's session on 8 July
certain members raised a number of questions concerning Migrationwatch,
some implying doubt about the validity of our research. They are
answered below.
STRUCTURE
2. Migrationwatch is a private company limited
by guarantee. The relevant details and accounts, as required by
law, are available from Companies House.
3. Migrationwatch is financed by donations from
the public. Unlike most organisations in this field, it receives
no money from the government in any form, either directly or indirectly.
PURPOSE
4. Migrationwatch is an independent voluntary
organisation which seeks to improve understanding of migration
issues. It regards a reasonable flow of migration in both directions
as a natural part of an open economy. It is, however, opposed
to the present very high levels of immigration which will, on
the government's own projections, add seven million to the population
of England by 2031; this is over seven times the population of
Birmingham.
TRACK RECORD
| 2002: | MW estimated that immigration would run at about two million per decade, including an allowance for illegal immigration. The official projection for legal immigration between 2006 and 2015 is now over two millioni.
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| 2003: | MW described the government's estimate of 13,000 immigrants from Eastern Europe as "almost worthless". The estimate proved to be wrong by a factor of at least four and possibly 10ii.
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| 2004: | MW pointed to the government's failure to remove failed asylum seekers. This led eventually to the Prime Minister's "tipping point" pledge"iii.
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| 2005: | MW described the weaknesses in the government's economic case for immigrationiv. All of these were confirmed by the report of the Economics Committee of the House of Lords in April 2008v.
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| 2006: | MW called attention to the failure to deport foreign prisoners. A year later a programme was put in place to correct thisvi.
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| 2006: | MW calculated that the impact of immigration on household formation was 33%vii. This was denied by many, including the Town & Country Planning Association but has now been accepted by the governmentviii.
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STATISTICS COMMISSION
5. Migrationwatch has taken issues to the independent
watchdog, the Statistics Commission, on two occasions, both were
successful.
— In September 2004 the Statistics Commission agreed
that the proportion of population growth due (at that time) to
migration was 85% and advised the ONS to make the position clearerix.
— In January 2008, the Statistics Commission agreed
that, excluding British citizens, the proportion of migrants from
outside the EU was 68%, not 52% as the government had claimedx.
HOME OFFICE
E-MAIL
6. Finally, in 2004, the Home Office were obliged by
the Freedom of Information Act to release their e-mails regarding
Migrationwatch. They were heavily censored but following is an
e-mail from a Home Office expert to his colleagues:
REFERENCESi MW Briefing paper
9.3 30 July 2002
ii MW Briefing paper 4.1 27 July 2003
iii MW Briefing Paper 9.14 15 April 2004
iv MW Briefing Paper 1.1 7 March 2005
v House of Lords Paper HL 82-I
vi MW Briefing Paper 10.14 2 Jan 2006
vii MW Briefing Paper 7.5 14 March 2006
viii Hansard Written Answers 20 June 2007 Col 1860 W
ix Letter from the Chairman of the Statistics Commission,
27 Sept 2004
x Letter from the Chairman of the Statistics Commission, 29
Jan 2008
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