Legal News
MigrationWatch the think tank has called for radical set of measures to curb the net influx of migrants (29 May 2012)
Date: 29/05/2012
With the net migration levels crossing 250,000 mark a far cry from the Conservative party’s election promises to reduce the net migration levels to below 100,000 by next elections has campaigners calling for some radical new controls to reach any where remotely to the promised levels.
The think-tank MigrationWatch UK said that more was needed to be done to reduce the annual net migration to the “tens of thousands rather than the hundreds of thousands” David Cameron had promised.
Figures from the past 10 years revealed that 300,000 immigrants from outside the European Union arrived in Britain annually but only 100,000 left. The balance of out going migrants was abysmally low compared to the incoming immigrants.
It said that to arrest the net influx, ministers would have to take a series of measures to close the loopholes in the system which is allowing immigrants taking different way out to enter the country.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration, Watch UK, said, the most recent immigration statistics were very disappointing, but the central issue has largely been misunderstood.
He said the migrants were, of course, welcome but they should leave at the end of their stay.
The think-tank has called for tougher penalties for employers hiring illegal workers, a crackdown on illegal accommodation and a reduction in the length of visitor visas from six to three months.