MemHT Portal • 30 NOV 2011

By Adrian Lowery | This is Money, Daily Mail

George Osborne admitted today that a drastically reduced growth outlook for the UK economy has left his plan to eliminate the Government's budget deficit by 2015 in tatters.

Delivering his Autumn Statement to a lively House of Commons, the Chancellor was forced into a significant revision to his much-vaunted 'Plan A' deficit reduction plan, with borrowing set to be £112billion more over the next four years than his Budget estimate.

New forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility show just 0.9 per cent growth this year, compared to 1.7 per cent predicted in March, and a drastically downgraded 0.7 per cent growth for next year, for which the OBR had forecast 2.5 per cent in March.

With growth in following years also coming in lower than was forecast in March, that means tax revenues will be lower and benefits spending higher, ruining the Chancellor's plans for a zero deficit by 2015.

Read entire article

See also:
UK body warns of risk of EU defaults (Irish Times)
Crippled Britain: Country grinds to a halt as millions go in strike (Daily Express)
David Cameron labels strikes 'damp squib' (The Inependent)
The £250m in green tax breaks to protect British business from EU environmental rules (Mail Online ]]> • 30 NOV 2011

UKIP

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage welcomed George Osborne's autumn statement but warned there was still much more to be done to rescue the ailing economy.

Nigel Farage MEP, UKIP Leader, responded to the Chancellor's Autumn Statement this afternoon:

"There are good things in this statement, and some honesty, but the Chancellor is kidding himself if he thinks he has got close to dealing with the problems that beset this country.

"The government's program to help small business is to be welcomed, but could be improved upon. It should end Employers' National Insurance, which is little more than a tax on jobs, across the lifetime of this parliament to get more people into work.

"But no matter how he cuts it, you cannot cut the deficit without cutting spending. He intends to continue the coalition’s suicidal energy policy subsidies. He accepts without apology his intention to borrow, on average more than £100 billion per annum, until 2015.
 
"He intends to increase the international aid budget and of course he leaves unanswered questions about the UK's liabilities to the EU direct, and indirectly through the IMF, when it comes to the eurozone bailouts.
 
"The Chancellor could have done much more to get this country's economy back on track."
 
READ MORE: Statement to face EC scrutiny

www.ukip.org ]]> • 29 NOV 2011

Sky News



Youtube.com ]]> • 29 NOV 2011

UK Visa Bureau

The UK's coalition government appears to be failing to meet their pledge to reduce net migration into Britain to "tens of thousands", as new UK immigration figures reveals migration to Britain in the 12 months to March 2011 is the highest on record

The research, conducted by the Office for National Statistics, shows that although net UK immigration fell slightly, there was also a fall in emigration, with the number of Britons departing the UK to live overseas at its lowest level in 13 years.
 
Figures also indicate a fall in the number of illegal entrants and failed asylum seekers who either leave voluntarily or are deported. The number was down by 13% in the third quarter of 2011 compared to the same period last year. At the same time, applications for asylum increased to the highest level in two years.
 
The Home Office has claimed it is too early to see the true impact of measures designed to cut migration to the UK and that more recent UK visa figures indicate the trend is beginning to reverse. However, the freedom of movement for citizens within the European Union is beyond the government’s ability to influence, causing a headache for ministers seeking to honour the pledge to drastically reduce the number of incoming migrants.
 
While Immigration Minister Damian Green claims the net migration figures are “encouraging”, the minister chose not to comment specifically on the overall increase. Speaking for the UK Independence Party, Gerard Batten MEP said: “The Government has to own up. It hasn't a clue how to deal with the problem, and it has to be honest that whilst our migration and asylum rules are set in Brussels it will never have the power to control it."
 
www.visabureau.com
]]> • 28 NOV 2011

Daily Star

THE UK Independence Party got their best ever results in the Daily Star Sunday/Survation poll.

It found 11% of voters would choose UKIP if there was an election tomorrow – just 1% behind the Lib Dems.

UKIP chairman Nigel Farage last night welcomed the figures – but cautioned more long-term gains were needed before he started celebrating.

“I’m absolutely delighted with such solid progress. However, one swallow does not make a summer,” he said.

Labour led our poll on 34%, ahead of the Tories on 32.

Scroll down for the report

See also:
Survation, UKIP and prompting minor parties (UK Polling Report)
Angus Reid poll: UKIP at 7%, LibDems at 8% (Angus Reid)
Yougov/The Sun Poll: UKIP at 8%, LibDems 9% (YouGov PDF) ]]> • 28 NOV 2011

By Peter Hoskin | The Spectator Blog

A quick post just to add the Guardian's interview with David Cameron to your Saturday reading list. It takes the unusual approach of fielding questions to the PM from a range of ‘public figures’ — and, although many of those questions reduce down to ‘why aren't you giving more money to X?’, the results are still generally engaging and occasionally insightful.
 
And so we learn, after an enquiry by The Spectator's own Toby Young, that Cameron doesn't keep a diary. And we also have the PM justifiying his stance on Europe to Nigel Farage; skipping over a question about what he may or may not have inhaled during his time at Eton; claiming that ‘not everything [Gordon Brown] did was wrong’; and more besides.
 
One question and answer stand out, at least so far as the current functioning of the coalition is concerned:

Norman Lamont: ‘If there were no coalition and you were governing as a Conservative prime minister alone, what three things would you most like to have done that you have not been able to do in coalition?’

David Cameron: ‘Further action on welfare reform. Perhaps the control of immigration. But I don't buy the argument that because it's a coalition it's an inactive government. It's a pretty rolled-up sleeves reforming government. [Guardian: And the third?] I thought two was enough.’

Read entire article

See also:
David Cameron, we have a few questions for you… (The Guardian)

Nigel Farage, leader of the Ukip party

Why do you refuse to give the British people a referendum on the EU, despite your earlier cast-iron guarantee?

[Cameron:] "I made a policy of having a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, and if the Lisbon treaty had been still extant at the time of government, we would have had a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. I don't believe Britain should leave the European Union, but I do believe there are powers we can retrieve from Europe to have a better balance."

[And yet, the Lisbon treaty IS still extant...]

[We did sense Dave was up to something back in June 2009: Video - Dave speaks Eurosceptic Eurospeak]
]]> • 25 NOV 2011

If UKIP's rise continues apace, Cleggmania could be made to look like a non-event compared to Farage Fever, 2015

By Michael Heaver | The Commentator

While most of the media focuses on the headline Coalition/Labour battleground, something quite extraordinary is happening. UKIP is gaining momentum and is more popular than ever before outside of the European Election cycle.
 
Now, a cynic may simply argue that since I am a UKIP supporter, I would say this. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating: YouGov's daily polls since the General Election last year have shown a consistent trend among "others".
 
The BNP are down to around one percent; the Greens are fixed on around three percent. UKIP meanwhile has gone from polling between four and five percent to regularly hitting seven percent and now eight percent. This is not a "plague on all your houses" surge as many predicted after the expenses scandal. This is a UKIP surge and a UKIP surge alone.
 
According to the latest YouGov poll, some 11 percent of 2010 Tory voters now intend to switch to UKIP. And that's only since last year. A smattering of highly credible 2010 Tory candidates such as Janice Atkinson-Small and Andrew Charalambous have switched sides as has Lord Hesketh, former Tory Treasurer and perhaps the biggest defection to UKIP in the young Party's history.
 
But we shouldn't view this growth as purely reliant on disgruntled Conservatives. Six percent of 2010 LibDem voters in this latest poll are now switching to UKIP.

Read entire article
]]> • 25 NOV 2011

By Garry White | The Telegraph

Andrew Bailey, deputy head of the Prudential Business Unit at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), noted that British banks are not heavily exposed to the eurozone, but said they must prepare for some countries to exit the single currency – or a complete break up.
 
"We cannot be, and are not, complacent on this front," Mr Bailey said. "As you would expect, as supervisors we are very keen to see the banks plan for any disorderly consequence of the euro area crisis.
 
"Good risk management means planning for unlikely but severe scenarios and this means that we must not ignore the prospect of a disorderly departure of some countries from the eurozone.
 
"I offer no view on whether it will happen, but it must be within the realm of contingency planning," he added. Failure to plan for the exit of a country from the euro would be "unsound risk management", Mr Bailey said.
 
Formerly a chief cashier at the bank of England, Mr Bailey will be deputy head of the new Prudential Regulation Authority which will be a subsidiary of the central bank.
 
Read entire article
]]> • 24 NOV 2011

By Emily Fox | Daily Express

IMMIGRATION has hit a record high, new figures released today reveal.

Net migration hit a record 252,000, according the the Office of National statistics, despite pledges by the Tory government to reduce the amount of migrants entering the country.

The ONS said fewer people were leaving the country from the UK for work-related reasons.

Provisional figures for the 12 months to March 2011 show 174,000 left due to work - the lowest figure for five years.
 
The main reason for immigration into the UK continued to be to study - which rose from 211,000 in 2009 to 238,000 last year.

Immigration Minister Damian Green insisted that the Government remained committed to reducing net migration to the "tens of thousands" during the course of the current parliament.

He said that after peaking in September last year, the numbers had started to come down.

[...]

UK Independence Party home affairs spokesman Gerard Batten MEP said: "Vague promises made to control non-EU migration are shown by these official figures to be a total fantasy.

"The Government has to own up. It hasn't a clue how to deal with the problem, and it has to be honest that whilst our migration and asylum rules are set in Brussels it will never have the power to control it."

Last year's record high compares with total net migration of 198,000 in 2009.

Read entire article
]]> • 22 NOV 2011
 
UKIP
 
The latest proposals for the funding of political parties, which will see the taxpayer foot a £23miliion annual bill, have been condemned by UKIP.

The plan would see the equivalent of 50p per voter paid to the three main parites and a cap of £10,000 imposed on individual donations.
 
UKIP Treasurer Stuart Wheeler said the review would skew the system against smaller parties as State funds would be conditional upon a party having at least two MPs in Parliament or members in devolved legislatures.
 
"Any new proposals should be across the board and not just include the so-called three main parties," Mr Wheeler said.
 
"The danger is that parties such as UKIP would lose out and effectively a political cartel would be created.
 
"In particular if the 'additional public support', which recommendation five suggests should be provided to the parties, does come into force, it is essential that parties should be defined in such a way that a party like UKIP, which obtained nearly a million votes in the last general election, and which came second, beating both Labour and the LibDems in the European election in 2009, should be included.
 
"At present they would not be."

Read entire article

See also:
Political parties 'should get more taxpayer funding' (BBC)
]]> • 18 NOV 2011

Nigel Farage website

UKIP leader and smoker Nigel Farage has blasted the calls by the British Medical Association for the smoking ban to be extended to cars as "totally outrageous and an unacceptable attack on an individual's right to choose."

He said that "The BMA should have far greater priorities than interfering in every aspect of our lives: what about MRSA, people unable to get appointments with their GPs quickly and the misdiagnosis rates?

I drive 30,000 miles a year, mostly on my own: where's the passive smoking risk in that?"

The UKIP leader wants to see the current legislation changed and pubs to be allowed to choose whether they want to be a smoking or non smoking establishment.

Read entire article ]]> • 17 NOV 2011

The Independent

In his seminal book The Progressive Dilemma, the historian David Marquand lamented the splitting of the centre-left vote in Britain.

The existence of both the Liberal Party (later the Liberal Democrats) and Labour had ripped asunder the country's centre-left majority, bequeathing a Tory-dominated 20th century.

This split was painfully evident during the recent referendum on electoral reform. Though Labour joined the Lib Dems in proposing a switch to the alternative vote, a seemingly endless procession of Labour dinosaurs made the conservative case for retaining the current system. This was probably crucial in dashing hopes for change.

Marquand's analysis is right about the past century. Three-party politics scarred the centre-left. What's interesting about Westminster's current configuration is that four-party politics is on the way, and will probably scar the centre-right.

Ukip – a "libertarian, non-racist party seeking Britain's withdrawal from the European Union" – is the product of civil war in British conservatism during the 1980s, one victim of which was Margaret Thatcher's reign as Prime Minister.

Europe divided Thatcher's Tory Party into a soft, modernising faction and a harder, resistant one. The modernisers won the Tory Party. The resistant bunch deserted it. As the writer Peter Oborne put it recently, "Ukip is in reality the Conservative Party in exile". That is one reason why it now regularly achieves 7 per cent in national polls.

Read entire article ]]> • 17 NOV 2011

The Oxford Times

PLANS to install CCTV cameras recording sound and video in all Oxford’s taxis have sparked a civil liberties debate.
 
The plans, as revealed in Monday’s Oxford Mail, will see all conversations recorded as well as video footage from the moment the key is turned in the ignition until 30 minutes after the car is switched off.
 
Since the scheme was revealed, the issue has been discussed on the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2, and The Wright Stuff on Channel 5, and in national newspapers.
 
UKIP MEP Nigel Farage, whose constituency includes Oxfordshire, is the latest to condemn the move.
 
He said the proposal was “the most native invasion of personal privacy I’ve yet seen in this country” and called for the decision to be reversed.
 
Read entire article
]]> • 16 NOV 2011

UKIP
 
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has attacked the British Medical Association for flagrant abuse of the facts in its attempt to bully the Government in banning smoking in private vehicles.

"The key argument that the BMA is using is that, 'This is because of the restrictive internal environment in motor vehicles which exposes drivers and passengers to 23 times more toxins than a smoky bar',"Mr Farage said.

"This is demonstrably rubbish.
 
"Anybody who has any claim to be interested in scientific evidence, and one hopes that an august organisation like the BMA should be interested in scientific evidence, would know that this fictional statistic is derived from a tiny article in an obscure Canadian newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News. It was never scientific, but merely the expression of rage on the part of an anti-smoking campaigner.

"That the BMA is prepared to either lie,  or maybe even worse be incompetent is just clear evidence that they are not to be trusted in public. The evidence of their sleight of hand can be found in a study of the evidence published here by the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Farage went on, "Face it, the proposed ban is based on junk science and would be an outrageous infringement of civil liberties if it were ever carried out. I would love to see them tell a bunch of pensioners that they were unable to smoke in their own cars. Not only would it be wrong, but it would be impossible to police. The very definition of bad law".

"Nobody would encourage people to smoke, nor would anybody be wildly happy about, as they say, forcing children to breath your smoke. But have these pettifogging nincompoops ever heard of car windows?"

www.ukip.org
]]> • 16 NOV 2011

Smoking in private cars should be banned to protect children and the elderly, the British Medical Association has said.

By Rebecca Smith | The Telegraph

There is now strong evidence that smoking in vehicles exposes non-smokers to high levels of second hand smoke which is known to be damaging to heath, the BMA said.

Because of the small enclosed space inside a car, smoking creates 23 times more toxins than found in a smoky bar, it was claimed.

Children absorb more of these pollutants than adults because their immune systems are not as developed and cannot fend off the harmful effects as easily, the BMA warned.

The elderly are also at greater risk because they are prone to respiratory problems that are worsened by breathing second-hand smoke.

Read entire article and vote in the poll ]]> • 15 NOV 2011

Daily Express

More than £12 million was paid out in legal costs and compensation to asylum seekers and other immigrants last year, figures have shown.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) paid a total of £14.2 million last year in compensation, legal costs and ex gratia payments, up almost £2 million on the previous year, the agency's annual report for 2010/11 showed.

This included payments to families who were unlawfully detained and removed, as well as £175,000 in compensation to an asylum seeker who was unlawfully detained and injured while in custody.

Legal costs alone topped £7.7 million in just over 1,000 cases, compared with £3.8 million for 691 cases in 2009/10.

Read entire article ]]> • 15 NOV 2011

• All cabs in Oxford will have at least one CCTV camera
• Taxpayer will be lumbered with £260,000 bill
• Civil liberties groups brand move a 'staggering invasion of privacy'
• Council says it is acting after increased complaints including sexual assaults and attacks on drivers

By LUCY BUCKLAND | Mail Online

Cab drivers and their passengers are to be spied on during journeys in what has been denounced as a ‘a staggering invasion of privacy’.

CCTV cameras are to be fitted in 650 taxis – costing the taxpayer £260,000 – to monitor drivers throughout their shift and record the conversations of passengers.

The cameras will begin recording sound and vision from the moment the ignition is turned on and remain on for 30 minutes after the engine has stopped running.

The footage gathered will be kept for 28 days on a CCTV hard-drive in case it is needed following, for example, an attack on the driver.

It will cost Oxford City Council taxpayers £400 to fit each of the 107 black cabs and 545 private hire vehicles in the city with the CCTV system.

The fact that recordings will be encrypted and only accessible in the event of a police investigation are added safeguards, a council spokesman insisted.

Civil liberties campaigners attacked the measure.

Read entire article ]]> • 15 NOV 2011



Youtube.com]]> • 13 NOV 2011

By Jimmy Young | Daily Express

THE ruling by the government that if an individual creates an e-petition about any policy that is the government’s responsibility and gets at least 100,000 people to sign, it is eligible for debate in the house of Commons appears to have opened some interesting possibilities.

It may also open the way for a few of the wackier fringe but also, on the positive side, to the examination of areas like immigration and border control, worrying to ordinary people but often deliberately avoided by politicians.

Indeed, it comes as no surprise at all that, within less than one week of the ruling, more than the minimum had signed an e-petition demanding effective and thorough examination of immigration and border controls, thus making those subjects eligible for a full House of Commons debate. Those are areas which can all too easily become party political footballs.

David Blunkett, Home Secretary in the last Labour government, boasted that he envisaged “no upper limit” on immigration. Other labour politicians said that their open door immigration policy was conducted mainly to “rub the Tories’ noses in Labour’s irreversible changes making Britain into a multicultural society”.

Read entire article ]]> • 10 NOV 2011

Northampton Chronicle & Echo

A TEAM of airborne veterans and supporters marched through Northampton town centre on their way to London to raise money for limbless ex-servicemen.

Derek Clark, who is UKIP’s MEP for the East Midlands, met the marchers and presented them with a donation at All Saints Church on Monday, along with ex-soldier Jim MacArthur, chairman of the Northampton branch of the UK Independence Party.

The march from Rotherham to London by the airborne veterans is in support of BLESMA – the British Limbless Ex Service Men’s Association.

They set out from Rotherham on Saturday, passed through Nottingham and Leicester before arriving in Northampton on Monday, where they stopped for the night at the TA Centre in Clare Street, The Mounts. They then set off for Luton en route to London where they are expected to arrive on Friday. Mr MacArthur, from Flore, became involved in the march having once served in the Airborne Units.

Read entire article
]]> • 09 NOV 2011

By Dan Hyde | Mail Online

Beleaguered savers will see £43billion wiped off the value of their nest eggs by November 2012 thanks to record low interest rates and soaring inflation, calculations for This is Money show.

The Bank of England meets on Thursday to decide whether to raise base rate from its record low 0.5 per cent and, in turn, give a kick to savings rates.

The average new instant access account pays just 0.93%, according to financial information provider Moneyfacts.co.uk - well below the rate of inflation at 5.6 per cent on the retail prices index (RPI) and 5.2 per cent on the slower-rising consumer prices index (CPI). Many older accounts pay as little as 0.1 per cent.

Analysis by campaign group Save Our Savers shows the devastating potential impact of inflation on Britain's savings deposits with base rate locked down.

Four years ago in November 2007, the average instant access account paid 4.21 per cent. But today that is a distant dream with rates held back by the 0.5 per cent base rate, which is used by banks as a minimum saving standard.

If the price of food, fuel and other staples rises faster than savers' money in the coming year, the value of savers' cash is steadily eroded.

With policymakers expected to hold rates for a 32nd consecutive month this week, the £1.1trillion held in cash savings could decline in value by £43billion in just a year at current inflation rates.

Markets indicate the first rate rise will come in May or June 2014; a Reuters poll of economists suggests mid-2013.

Read entire article
]]> • 09 NOV 2011

By Louise Sassoon | Daily Express

BELEAGUERED UK Border Force chief Brodie Clark launched a scathing attack on Home Secretary Theresa May last night.

Mr Clark, who said he was quitting and would start a case for constructive dismissal, denied “improperly” extending a relaxation of border controls.

In a statement he said: “I am anxious to take part in any independent inquiry into matters relating to UK Border Agency, but my position at UKBA had been made untenable because of the statements made in the House of Commons by the Home Secretary Theresa May.

“Those statements are wrong and were made without the benefit of hearing my response to formal allegations.

“With the Home Secretary announcing and repeating her view that I am at fault, I cannot see how any process conducted by the Home Office or under its auspices, can be fair and balanced.” Mr Clark was suspended from the UKBA last Thursday over allegations that vital passport checks were secretly ditched during the summer behind ministers’ backs.

Read entire article
]]> • 08 NOV 2011

UKIP

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage is pushing the Government for an immigration debate following the success of an e-Petition on the topic reaching 100,000 signatures in just a week.

"The fact that 100,000 signatures was achieved in a week shows how important this is to the British people.
 
"The House of Commons now owes us a debate on this issue. There is no point brushing immigration under the carpet. The people have spoken and they want a debate and a clear indication that the Government is listening to their concerns."

Ukip.org

See also:
UKIP urge all to sign immigration petition (UKIP)
]]> • 08 NOV 2011

By Martyn Brown | Daily Express

NO one will ever know how many suspected terrorists, criminals and illegal immigrants entered Britain when ­officials relaxed border controls over the summer, Theresa May was forced to confess yesterday.

In a humiliating admission, the Home Secretary said an inquiry had been ordered into claims that identity checks on travellers from outside Europe were scaled back without ministerial approval.

In a statement to MPs, Mrs May said those responsible would be punished.

Brodie Clark, head of the UK Border Agency, is among three staff suspended.

Number 10 said yesterday that neither Mrs May nor Immigration Minister Damian Green had offered to resign as a result of the controversy and they had the “full confidence” of the Prime Minister. But Labour accused Mrs May of ­giving “the green light for weaker ­controls”.

She told the Commons that while ministers had started a pilot project “targeting intelligence-led checks on higher-risk” passengers, Mr Clark had authorised “wider relaxation of border controls without ministerial sanction”.

“As a result of these unauthorised actions, we will never know how many people entered the country who should have been prevented from doing so after being flagged by the warnings index,” she said.

Staff at the UKBA had been “let down” by senior officials who put border security at risk, she said.

Under the pilot scheme which began in July, she said checks were relaxed on European children travelling with their parents or school who were not considered a credible risk.

Read entire article]]> • 08 NOV 2011

Rochdale Online

Moves for financial education to be added to the National Curriculum have been welcomed by UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall.

An e-petition has reached the 100,000 threshold for a parliamentary debate on the subject to be considered and meanwhile an all party parliamentary group is to publish its results on introducing financial education in the classroom.

"I believe this is a step in the right direction," said Mr Nuttall, Euro-MP for the North West.

"It is so easy to make the wrong financial choices if you do not have at least a basic knowledge about the topic. The vast number of people, of all ages, struggling with credit card debts is just one manifestation of this.

“We are all painfully aware what difficult economic times we live in and householders particularly need to carefully balance their books to stay in the black.

"I think introducing it as compulsory subject in schools at an appropriate age is an excellent idea. Some children come from homes where sensible parents can guide them but many do not have that advantage.”

"I do believe, however, that much more attention must be given to the 3Rs. Youngsters need a good grasp of basic mathematics to be able learn how to handle their own finances," said Mr Nuttall.

Rochdale Online
]]> • 08 NOV 2011

• Rubber bullets will be used to protect officers being attacked
• 4,000 officers will be on the street on Wednesday
• ‘Any officer that shoots a student with a baton round will have to answer to the whole of London'
• Never been used on mainland but have been linked to deaths in Northern Ireland

By Rebecca Camber | Mail Online

Police are prepared to use plastic bullets for the first time on the British mainland if student protests planned for tomorrow erupt into violence.

Scotland Yard revealed yesterday that the baton rounds have been authorised for a student fees march in London amid fears it could be hijacked by anarchists and troublemakers.

Baton gun rounds have never been used on the British mainland, but they have been linked to deaths in Northern Ireland.

Officers stressed yesterday that they were not planning to use baton rounds and they would only be a last resort if all other tactics had failed and officers’ lives were at risk.

Commander Simon Pountain, who is in charge of the police operation, said armoured vehicles, known as Jankels, would also be on standby if the protests saw a repeat of this summer riots or the chaos last year during the student fees demonstrations.

Read entire article

]]> • 07 NOV 2011

By Alison Little | Daily Express

ALMOST eight out of 10 people in England think the country is overcrowded.

The support, which also reveals that more than a third believe England to be “very crowded’’, will pile pressure on ministers to keep their promises to slash immigration.

The petition survey was conducted by YouGov for the MigrationWatch UK think-tank.

It was launched on the Government’s website last Tuesday and had collected more than 90,000 signatures by yesterday, making it one of the fastest- growing appeals on the site so far.

Petitions have to be considered as the subject for a Commons debate once they gain 100,000 names.

The MigrationWatch petition condemns the “mass immigration’’ permitted over the last 10 years and voices concern at official projections that the UK’s population will rise from 62.3 million last year to 70 million by 2027.

Two-thirds of the rise stems from immigration with the rest due to rising birthrates and increased life expectancy.

Read entire article

See also:
Pressures of immigration are felt ever more keenly (Daily Express)
]]> • 06 NOV 2011

Daily Express

THE suspension of the head of the UK Border Agency along with two senior officials amid claims that they let thousands of travellers into Britain without proper security checks, exposes a farcical situation.
For years many have suspected that just about anyone, including criminals and potential terrorists, can stroll unhindered into Britain.

Now those fears appear to have been confirmed. Home Secretary Theresa May’s removal of these three officials is intended to show that the Government is taking firm action to sort out our chaotic immigration issues but don’t be deceived.

In reality this gesture changes nothing. The UK Border Agency is supposed to be the nation’s gatekeeper but it admits to having “lost track” of 124,000 asylum seekers and illegal immigrants over the past decade. The number of people now in the UK who shouldn’t be here is staggering and grows each year.

The problem we face grew exceptionally during the Blair and Brown years when their administrations effectively threw open our doors.

Now our towns and cities are so overcrowded that we are one of the mostly-densely populated countries on earth.

Read entire article

See also:
The simple truth: The Immigration Minister needs to resign - or UKIP will take more votes from the Tories (Abhijit Pandya | Mail blogs)
]]> • 01 NOV 2011

UKIP

Immigration is an issue that concerns millions of people across the country.

It impacts on jobs, housing and public services.

UKIP is not anti-immigration. We propose a five-year freeze to sort out the current system then limited immigration capped at 50,000 people a year.

We feel this will enable us to better control who comes to live and work in the UK while also ensuring that certain skills are brought into the country to benefit business and industry.

The current Government has failed to get a proper grip on immigration despite its numerous pledges.

Last week it was estimated that the British population was heading towards 70 million in less than 20 years.

A petition has been launched that is calling on the Government "to take all necessary steps to get immigration down to a level that will stabilise our population as close to the present level as possible".

Sadly the UK's membership of the EU means there is nothing that can be done to reduce the number of people arriving in the UK from other EU member states.  

But a clear message can be sent to the coalition Government about non-EU immigration.  

Please sign the petition here and encourage your friends and colleagues to do the same.

ukip.org
]]> • 30 OCT 2011

The PM is using coalition as an excuse not to be more bellicose in Brussels. It could backfire

By Rafael Behr | New Statesman

Nick Clegg has sprinkled adose of salt into the prime minister's European wounds this morning. The deputy prime minister has written an article in the Observer insisting that the coalition will be "measured" in its approach to any proposed changes to Brussels institutions and warns that "retreating to the margins" of Europe would be "economic suicide".

David Cameron, meanwhile, has told the BBC's Andrew Marr that he would like to see further "rebalancing" of powers with regard to Brussels, but recognises that the Conservatives must act as a coalition - an unveiled hint that it is only the Lib Dems that stop him from giving full rein to his own more Eurosceptic impulses. It is obvious why he would want to present that argument - persuading Tory back benchers that his hands are tied with yellow Lib Dem cord. I'm not sure it will do him much good. The Conservative hard core anti-EU faction know perfectly well that the Lib Dems are an impediment to their ambitions and see Cameron's deference tothem as weakness. Hearing the prime minister advertise that problem will hardly placate them.

Read entire article

See also:
DAVID CAMERON HAS JUST SIX MONTHS TO DEFEAT EUROPEANS AND SAVE OUR ECONOMY (Daily Express)

]]>