Alex Stevenson on the coalition and immigration

Alex says "Yet again (remember bigotgate?) immigration steals an electioneering march over the everyday issues which dominate the lives of those" in his article Immigration is a convenient coalition punchbag.


There was an interesting comment from duncanputt who says"

I'm glad this coalition government is actually talking about immigration. However, I think they're giving it a negative feel. Immigration can help boost the economy as long as only qualified foreigners come in. Not low lifes who will set up a fast food place in a working class area like most immigrants. If it wasn't for Indian doctors the NHS would have collapsed in the 1960s/70s. So immigration can be good if it's done correctly and in the right doses.

Other countries to benefit from the UK's closed door policy

Following the tightening of visa rules by the British government, the UK is sending out the message that international Non-EU students are not welcome here. This represents an opportunity for New Zealand, Australia and even countries like Malaysia and Singapore, who are trying to build up their own education sector by attracting international students.

Australia is one country which recently overturned their own visa policy after finding that their economy was seriously affected. Stephen Connelly, the country's International Education Association Australia president saw the new visa changes in the UK as "a potential opportunity for Australia" because "students will look elsewhere."

New research indicates that Multiculturalism is ‘not to blame’

A research team led by Dr Laia Bécares from The University of Manchester, found that "deprivation, not multiculturalism, was the root cause of fragmented communities". In fact neighbourhoods with higher ethnic diversity are associated with higher rates of social cohesion.

Click here to read the report Multiculturalism ‘not to blame’ for failed sense of community.

Cap on Skilled Immigration

A permanent annual cap comes in to effect in the UK from today. The cap will be 21,700 annually with 4200 places this month and 1500 each month after that.

Various comments:

"The cap on skilled immigration is an example of how the target is leading to bad policy. It will keep out the highly-skilled migrants who contribute most to the UK economy and to the public purse: the people that the public aren’t especially worried about. " - Reducing Immigration: Caps, limits and the perils of political targets By Sarah Mulley

According to Damian Green “To often over the past ten years it has been the first resort. Britain became addicted to immigration as a solution to a number of problems and we have to wean ourselves off that addiction." - Britain is "addicted to immigration" warns minister by Tom Whitehead.

"This is a short-sighted policy on the part of the government and is indicative of the coalition's chaotic approach to higher education reform. It will hamper universities already struggling to maintain their world-leading status in a hostile funding climate, and will contribute to a decline in "innovation and skills" that we all will be lamenting in ten years' time." - Why the immigration cap spells trouble for universities by Tamson Pietsch

"It is clearly essential that unduly tight restrictions on economic migration should not impede the economic recovery on which so much else depends. This appears unlikely due to the generous limit and partial nature of the cap; it doesn’t cover ICTs or in country extensions." - The cap on economic migration - will it have much effect? Migration Watch UK

Also read Q&A: UK immigration cap By Dominic Casciani