Eastern Europe migration plummeting
Eastern Europe migration plummeting
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Thursday, 21, Aug 2008 02:00
Britain's economic woes are contributing to a sharp decline in migration from eastern Europe, new immigration figures revealed today.
The number of eastern European migrants has now fallen to its lowest level since accession, due to a UK economic downturn and improvements in potential immigrants' home economies.
"This is another clear indication that the British economy is very seriously slowing down," said Liberal Democrat economics spokesman Vince Cable.
"I hope that all those people who have been running scare stories about the impact of immigration from Eastern Europe on jobs and housing will now eat a little humble pie.
"They should acknowledge that immigration flows are very sensitive to the state of the economy."
Between April and June this year 40,000 applications were made to the Worker Registration Scheme from the eight countries which joined the EU in 2004. This is down by 14,000 from the same period last year.
The Quarterly Control of Immigration and Quarterly Accession Monitoring statistics also show a continuation in falling numbers of people applying for asylum in the UK.
Between April and June this year 5,720 people applied for refuge in Britain, compared to 6,595 in the previous three months.
The number of foreign prisoners being deported is also on course to hit government targets with 2,500 prisoners removed in the first six months of 2008, a 23 per cent increase on the same period last year.
"Foreign lawbreakers are being removed from Britain at record levels with more than 2,500 deported so far this year," said border and immigration minister Liam Byrne.
"I have made it repeatedly clear that people who come here must earn the right to stay, work hard and play by the rules."
But the Conservatives said the figures showed the government had not gone far enough.
Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said: "With the number of migrants arriving from the new EU countries now approaching one million, the government's estimate that a maximum of just 13,000 migrants a year would arrive from these countries is woeful.
"Labour must realise that immigration can benefit the country, but only if it is properly controlled."