Extracts from correspondence received
The views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Migration Watch UK.
The names of firms mentioned by the writer have been removed by Migrationwatch
Thank you for your continued efforts to keep immigration at the forefront of the political agenda. Politicians are not directly affected by mass immigration, protected as they are behind their ivory towers and sweeping lawns, which is why they brush the issue under the carpet. Those who do put their heads above the parapet are denounced as 'racist'. The term trips off the tongue, easily: as does the word 'multiculturalism'. Words I had never heard before Labour came to power. English people are now referred to as 'White British', which is a term I find deeply offensive.
Politicians sit idly by and watch our country being destroyed by mass immigration. Perhaps if they had to compete for their jobs against hundreds and thousands of newcomers, they might not be so cavalier about the rights of the indigenous population. The next General Election may focus their minds!
Sir Andrew Green is the champion of all right-minded English citizens. All we want is to protect our culture, and restore balance. Our beautiful British Isles will cease to be unless someone has the courage to stand up and say Britain is full up now: we have no more room. Try somewhere else.
June 2009"Having read the recent press articles about the numbers of non EU work permits being issued, I would like to comment on my own experiences over the past 10 years.
I'm a self employed IT specialist, working mainly in the banking and financial field, and although extremely experienced, and finding it more difficult to find work because of the ease with which UK employers can recruit overseas staff.
For example, my last contract was with ., from June to November 2008. During that period, dozens of staff were being brought into the IT centre from 2 Indian IT consultancies; ostensibly to "augment IT provision ", but actually to reduce costs, as they were replacing UK based staff who were having their contracts terminated, or not renewed. Dozens more jobs were going offshore. This is an excerpt from an email regarding this:- "Although the MTC provide both onshore and offshore based resource, as a general rule we must look to offshore work wherever possible because it is considerably more cost effective to do so. However, it is accepted that during pilot exercises it may be necessary to utilise onshore resource to begin with (e.g. for knowledge transfer purposes) and move toward an offshore model at the soonest possible opportunity thereafter." When one looks at the quality of the overseas staff, it astounds me that a work permit can be issued. Most of them are in their mid 20's, with little or no practical IT experience. Working for an IT consultancy doesn't make you an IT expert! Having said that, it is apparent that their employers simply throw bodies at vacancies, regardless of the actual expertise of the staff provided. This has been borne out on every project I've worked on since first encountering this at in 1999, when the offshore IT consultants were thrown off the project after 18 months, and non delivery of any software.
Another example of the lack of skills was in 2005, when . brought 8 IT specialists in a particular software testing tool for a 2 month contract. They were described as specialists with "lots of experience", but it was apparent after their arrival that this was not the case. None of them had used the software; 2 had difficulty with basic PC skills, and all admitted that the only expertise in the software had been a 2 day induction course before being put on the plane!
While this may read as sour grapes, I'm perfectly happy to compete on cost, expertise, etc., but I cannot compete with someone earning the equivalent of £5,000 p.a. One wonders how the minimum wage applies in these cases? The other major problem now affecting UK based freelance IT staff is the legislation that means that before I can start a contract I have to
(a) provide full employment history for the previous 5 years - any gaps of more than 2 weeks (including holidays) have to be accounted for in a statement signed by a solicitor
(b) employment references covering the past 3 years
(c) a full credit check
While the above help to prove that I'm indeed who I say I am; what checks are carried out on those people brought in from overseas, many on short term contracts? It's certainly not a level playing field when it comes to recruitment, as the paperwork seems to be a lot simpler when bring in overseas staff. The .case above had the staff recruited on site in under 2 weeks. I've also noticed that overseas staff brought in to work at say ., are also working at - I thought that was against the rules as well! I also thought that firms had to prove they can't recruit locally before hiring overseas staff - again, this doesn't appear to be borne out in my experience, as managers often quote the reason for using overseas IT consultancies is the cost!"
January 2009Migration Watch has done a wonderful job in bringing the subject of immigration into the political arena, particularly in the face of so much malignant abuse and personal attacks. There is no doubt that the forces that destroyed Enoch Powell would have dealt with Sir Andrew Green had he not maintained a strict apolitical stance, and a rigorous policy of publishing only demonstrable facts and figures. This I appreciate.
But, it seems to me that the whole mass immigration strategy has been devised to destroy the English as a nation, and as an ethnic group, by submerging them under foreign immigrants. Presently, masses of English are emigrating, to be replaced by foreigners; particularly foreigners from outside the EU. This situation is exacerbated by the birth rate of ethnic minorities outstripping that of the indigenous population. England's enemies will, of course, endorse Balanced Migration when it puts the same value on say, 10,000 Rumanian gypsy immigrants, as 10,000 English emigrants.
Surely the question of immigration goes deeper than just mere numbers and, despite the inevitable cries of 'fascist', 'nazi', and 'racist', this issue should be brought into the debate.
September 2008Personally I'd be very unsympathetic to the notion of a "Balanced" policy, equating the number on their way in to those going out.
The sheer level of inward immigration has already caused and will continue to cause profound cultural changes in the UK, not least because of the higher birth rates within immigrant communities.
We need to put a brake on immigration, not continue it which a balanced policy would allow. The majority of emigrants will be white British and he overwhelming influx will be Asian and African.
That will doubtless sound racist to you but I'm afraid that despite the fact that as a young man I helped out at organisations such as the Anti Apartheid Group, my opinions now are far less tolerant than I would have hoped, primarily because I feel that this country has been taken for granted, not least by the current government.
There's always a lot of reference to the Australian system. The Singaporean system is also a model worth adopting. There incoming workers are given a period for which they are allowed to stay, and are required to undergo a health check as a condition of their residence. I went through that process, and felt it was eminently fair.
September 2008The term "water water everywhere but not a drop to drink" comes to mind when I think of the situation my family and I are in.
I live in Swindon. A prosperous town, where in the last decade or so we have been able to say we have no unemployment: - That being that the only reason you would not be working is because you don't want to.
I have always gone along with this, as I never really knew anyone who didn't have a job.
Now though, is a different story.
Swindon is going through a major development. The 70's monstrosities the town has always been criticised for are being knocked down to make way for a more 'cultural' town. On one road alone we have 10 major building developments going on and countless numbers of housing developments.
So with this in mind, I ask why has my husband - a bricklayer who came to Swindon from the north because of the abundance of work 8 years ago has had to go to another country for work? Why has my dad, a reputable carpenter and joiner for more than 30 years had to cut his wages in half and go 'begging for work'? Why is my brother struggling to make his mortgage payments because he now only gets 3 full days of work on site?
Yes, there is a credit crunch going on in the country. I work in the financial industry. I am reminded every day about how less people are buying houses at the moment - but the situation would be a lot more self healing if there wasn't the issue of immigrant workers overtaking and under cutting the local workers on site.
I'm not going to say all immigration is bad. I come from an Irish family. My dad's family came to Swindon during the war and my mum came here from Ireland to be with my dad. All my family experienced the "no Irish need apply" welcome to the country. Times where hard for them. But they persevered, they worked hard. No one in my family ever claimed benefits and everyone owns their own house. In short, they invested back in to the country and they have raised us to be well educated, successful, hard working and thoughtful.
Because of this history I have always been open minded about immigration. My mum constantly reminding me of how hard it was for her coming here. However, in the last few years my opinion has swayed. I can no longer see the benefit of more people coming here. In my experience, they are draining and not investing in the country. I live in an area that a couple of years ago was being hailed as an up and coming area of the town, with young professional first time buyers moving in and starting families. This has now stopped. The housing has been bought up by Asian families who have rented the 2 up 2 downs to uncounted number of eastern Europeans, Africans and Asians.
A house 3 doors away houses 11 people while they send the money they are earning in the town back home to build houses in their country.
On a more personal note. My husband and I are trying to start a family. A family that would be taught the value of education, hard work and decent behaviour. That will bring value to the town. But we can't while he's not here. In the mean time. Mr and Mrs Immigrant are living in a free house with kids who are putting extra demands on the already struggling public services.
The gates need to be closed. No one can blame people for wanting to come here. We give houses and money away for free. It's a fantasy land for someone coming from the hardships of their countries. If I knew I would get a free, brand new house and regular money for doing nothing, in Albania - I'd be straight on the plane! In many cases even the most dire living conditions in this country are better than what they would be living in their homeland. But that should be an issue for their government and not ours.
The credit crunch plus lack of employment is a recipe for a complete disaster. Maybe if it gets so bad, these immigrants will go home. But it could be too late for us.
I can say for absolute sure, that there are NOT enough jobs to go round for skilled construction workers. Not in the north, south, east or west of the UK. I can say this because working along side my husband are people from all of these regions. All for the same reason - cheaper immigrant workers are taking their jobs. People who can afford to work for less because they are essentially still part of their home countries economy and not the economy in the UK. £1 goes a lot further where they come from.
Contrary to claims - there are now NOT enough jobs to go around. The country's financial instability is now becoming more apparent and many industries are feeling the brunt. It's this that is increasing the popularity of cheaper workers. But it's a false means to an end. Yes they are earning the money, but they are not buying the good that these industries produce.
So money is going out and not coming back in.
I am not saying stop immigration all together either. But we would be fools to not ask people to prove their value and be placed in a part of the country that needs them. We should also be more forceful about what they do with this money they earn. There should be an extra immigrant tax for the first couple of years when they come here. After all I have to pay extra tax when I only go on holiday to other countries!
If the situation does not improve, my husband and I will leave this country and take our skills and experience elsewhere. We will raise children who will bring value and pride to another country. We will remove our money from the British economy and buy a house and pay our taxes to another government. And we will never be part of the UK again. Leaving a nice little gap in the land for an immigrant family to come and take what they want.
I'm not saying that immigration is this town's only problem either. I also have my thoughts about the British people being allowed to rely on the benefit system ......... but before we sort that lot out we need to sort the people who shouldn't even be here first.
June 2008Many congratulations to Sir Andrew Green and Migration Watch for kick-starting and making respectable the vital debate on immigration, leading to the Lords Select Committee's report today.
At last the nonsense of Government claims is being exposed, at last the reality that it is GDP per head, not total GDP that matters, at last the reality that the work immigrants do hardly covers the costs of their being here - especially the cost of providing housing for them - is being publicly exposed. I doubt that any government in history has been as innumerate as this one - and their many errors have cost us dear.
None of this would have been possible without your efforts, for which we must be very grateful indeed.
April 2008I live in Hackney South and as an indigenous English person, I am shocked to find that I am in a minority. Although there are people from many foreign cultures living side by side in the constituency, my experience is that each culture does not tend to adopt a multicultural attitude, but instead wishes to remain within their own cultural enclaves only emerging from them for economic reasons. For instance, many members of the immigrant communities that I have met in the constituency appear not to feel the need to develop their English language skills or be interested in English culture in any way beyond that which enables them to benefit economically.
This is not the idealistic 'melting pot' of multiculturalism, but instead a 'salad bowl' of communities trying to maintain the identity of the culture from which they have emigrated at the expense of the indigenous English culture. I strongly object to the lack of honesty by the present government in admitting that there is a problem that needs addressing.
January 2008
I watched on television the proceedings of the House of Lords Economics Committee at which your Chairman, Sir Andrew Green, gave evidence.
I have rarely seen such a devastatingly logical presentation Sir Andrew had all the facts at his fingertips and presented them in a way which was a joy to watch. The question, as always, is whether the Government will take any notice and retreat from its open door policy which is inspired by the race relations industry, but if anyone can bludgeon them into a change of course through sheer relentless logic, its Sir Andrew.
Thanks for representing the majority of people in this country (including most immigrants) who want the sensible reforms Sir Andrew is proposing but are being ignored - for the moment, anyway!
January 2008
I have just been introduced to your website by an English friend. I am visiting London from Ghana as a guest lecturer and am privileged to be working for six months in one of the top British universities. I have always admired and respected the British sense of fair play and support for people who are less well off, especially in places like Africa where I have seen at first hand many examples of British generosity.
After a few months in the UK I must say I am appalled at the effect that uncontrolled immigration has had on the country and its unique culture. What started as the usual native British generosity towards needy immigrants has deteriorated into a free for all which has damaged this country enormously.
My English friend directed me to your website, and I congratulate you on your balanced, methodical and unhysterical approach to research and analysis, which has brought out in the open the debate about immigration and its consequences. Long may you and your advisers prosper and succeed in your mission.
July 2007
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As you know, the issue of mass immigration has generated intense spin by HM Government and various Agencies. Those who seek to raise bona fide concerns are almost invariably branded as racists. Anyone who gets over that hurdle, is perceived to be ignorant of the history of this Country ("a nation of immigrants") and our economic dependence upon the financial contribution of mass immigration.
It is a depressing state of affairs. Certainly, I have the utmost respect for all of those who have come to this Country in the past and embraced our way of life. However, living in West Yorkshire, I continue to witness a massive influx of immigrants and it is evident to me that we are one of the Counties designated to receive the new arrivals. In consequence, I no longer recognise this as my Country.
In the circumstances, may I say how very much I have appreciated your stand in this matter."
April 2007
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