Does anyone think it's worth their while to ask you to expand on that statement?
The Daily Mail
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Anyway...
...in the interests of balance it should be duly noted for the record that - [in 1948 after the arrival of the first immigrants aboard the Windrush]
11 Labour Party MPs wrote to Clement Attlee complaining about these new immigrants. "This country may become an open reception centre for immigrants not selected in respect to health, education, training, character, customs and above all, whether assimilation is possible or not. The British people fortunately enjoy a profound unity without uniformity in their way of life, and are blest by the absence of a colour racial problem. An influx of coloured people domiciled here is likely to impair the harmony, strength and cohesion of our public and social life and to cause discord and unhappiness among all concerned.... We venture to suggest that the British Government should, like foreign countries, the dominions and even some of the colonies, by legislation if necessary, control immigration in the political, social, economic and fiscal interests of our people."
Attlee replied on 5th July, 1948: "It is traditional that British subjects, whether of Dominion or Colonial origin (and of whatever race or colour), should be freely admissible to the United Kingdom. That tradition is not, in my view, to be lightly discarded, particularly at this time when we are importing foreign labour in large numbers. It would be fiercely resented in the Colonies themselves, and it would be a great mistake to take any measure which would tend to weaken the goodwill and loyalty of the Colonies towards Great Britain... It may be of interest to you to know that of the 236 who had nowhere to go and no immediate prospects of employment, and who were therefore temporarily accommodated at Clapham Shelter, 145 had actually been placed in employment by the 30th June and the number still resident in the Shelter at this last week-end was down to 76. It would therefore be a great mistake to regard these people as undesirable or unemployables. The majority of them are honest workers, who can make a genuine contribution to our labour difficulties at the present time." (8)
This was a blatant attempt to win the support of those members of the electorate who held racist views. However, the government faced a severe shortage of labour in certain industries and secretly encouraged large-scale immigration from the Asian subcontinent. This labour shortage was especially a problem in the National Health Service. The Minister of Health, Enoch Powell, made an important decision. Powell’s war experiences in India made it the place he turned to for help. “We know Powell had a high regard for Indian society and that Indian medical schools trained doctors based on the British system, so he knew he could find a relatively good source of well-qualified doctors.” In 1963 Powell invited Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi doctors to the UK. This resulted in 18,000 arriving over the next twelve months. (11)
Powell praised these doctors, who he said, "provide a useful and substantial reinforcement of the staffing of our hospitals and who are an advertisement to the world of British medicine and British hospitals." Many of those recruited had several years of experience in their home countries and arrived to gain further medical experience, training, or qualification. Powell's initiative was a great success and after eight years 31 per cent of all doctors working in the NHS in England were born and had qualified overseas. (12)
He changed his tune, didn't he?
...in the interests of balance it should be duly noted for the record that - [in 1948 after the arrival of the first immigrants aboard the Windrush]
11 Labour Party MPs wrote to Clement Attlee complaining about these new immigrants. "This country may become an open reception centre for immigrants not selected in respect to health, education, training, character, customs and above all, whether assimilation is possible or not. The British people fortunately enjoy a profound unity without uniformity in their way of life, and are blest by the absence of a colour racial problem. An influx of coloured people domiciled here is likely to impair the harmony, strength and cohesion of our public and social life and to cause discord and unhappiness among all concerned.... We venture to suggest that the British Government should, like foreign countries, the dominions and even some of the colonies, by legislation if necessary, control immigration in the political, social, economic and fiscal interests of our people."
Attlee replied on 5th July, 1948: "It is traditional that British subjects, whether of Dominion or Colonial origin (and of whatever race or colour), should be freely admissible to the United Kingdom. That tradition is not, in my view, to be lightly discarded, particularly at this time when we are importing foreign labour in large numbers. It would be fiercely resented in the Colonies themselves, and it would be a great mistake to take any measure which would tend to weaken the goodwill and loyalty of the Colonies towards Great Britain... It may be of interest to you to know that of the 236 who had nowhere to go and no immediate prospects of employment, and who were therefore temporarily accommodated at Clapham Shelter, 145 had actually been placed in employment by the 30th June and the number still resident in the Shelter at this last week-end was down to 76. It would therefore be a great mistake to regard these people as undesirable or unemployables. The majority of them are honest workers, who can make a genuine contribution to our labour difficulties at the present time." (8)
This was a blatant attempt to win the support of those members of the electorate who held racist views. However, the government faced a severe shortage of labour in certain industries and secretly encouraged large-scale immigration from the Asian subcontinent. This labour shortage was especially a problem in the National Health Service. The Minister of Health, Enoch Powell, made an important decision. Powell’s war experiences in India made it the place he turned to for help. “We know Powell had a high regard for Indian society and that Indian medical schools trained doctors based on the British system, so he knew he could find a relatively good source of well-qualified doctors.” In 1963 Powell invited Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi doctors to the UK. This resulted in 18,000 arriving over the next twelve months. (11)
Powell praised these doctors, who he said, "provide a useful and substantial reinforcement of the staffing of our hospitals and who are an advertisement to the world of British medicine and British hospitals." Many of those recruited had several years of experience in their home countries and arrived to gain further medical experience, training, or qualification. Powell's initiative was a great success and after eight years 31 per cent of all doctors working in the NHS in England were born and had qualified overseas. (12)
He changed his tune, didn't he?
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The Daily Mail played an important role in trying to persuade Cameron to bring an end to immigration. It reported that 70 million is "the number of people who our national statisticians expect will populate the UK by mid-2029". (31) The BBC joined in with these scare stories: "A new survey predicts the UK population will reach 78m by 2051... By 2051 a growing birth rate, coupled with high levels of immigration from Europe, Australasia and the US, as well as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, will take the UK population to 78m... The report predicts ethnic minorities will make up 20% of a 78m population." (32)
It has been argued that these predictions assume that will enjoy rapid economic growth over the next forty years. History tells us that every economic recession results in a decline in population: "Emigration and the consequent slump in fertility that comes with economic distress. Fewer people start families when their jobs are at risk, as so many fear being unable to set up home." During the Great Depression in the 1930s the British did not replace their own numbers through births. Stories were published that the country would be depopulated by the end of the century.
After his election the right-wing press put David Cameron under pressure to deliver his promise on net migration. This included the The Sun, who reported on 27th August, 2010, that "an extra 196,000 people flooded into Britain last year" and this was a "20 per cent increase on 2008". The article then went on to state that country was dangerously full and that the UK was the second most congested country in the European Union. (35)
The newspaper had got this information from a report published by the anti-immigration pressure group, Migration Watch. It claimed "England has a population density of over 3 times the EU average and second only to the Netherlands and Malta in the 25-nation EU... Congestion is therefore a much more significant factor in the UK than elsewhere and points to a very clear need for the UK to be able to limit immigration by controlling its own borders and having its own immigration policy." (36)
It is the UK that is in the European Union, not England. The UK actually appears in the Migration Watch below the Netherlands, Malta and Belgium. It is not only the Sun journalist who cannot read the chart that appears in the document. The man who wrote the report missed out Belgium. When this was pointed out to Nigel Farage he commented that "Belgium was not a country as far as he was concerned".
It has been argued that these predictions assume that will enjoy rapid economic growth over the next forty years. History tells us that every economic recession results in a decline in population: "Emigration and the consequent slump in fertility that comes with economic distress. Fewer people start families when their jobs are at risk, as so many fear being unable to set up home." During the Great Depression in the 1930s the British did not replace their own numbers through births. Stories were published that the country would be depopulated by the end of the century.
After his election the right-wing press put David Cameron under pressure to deliver his promise on net migration. This included the The Sun, who reported on 27th August, 2010, that "an extra 196,000 people flooded into Britain last year" and this was a "20 per cent increase on 2008". The article then went on to state that country was dangerously full and that the UK was the second most congested country in the European Union. (35)
The newspaper had got this information from a report published by the anti-immigration pressure group, Migration Watch. It claimed "England has a population density of over 3 times the EU average and second only to the Netherlands and Malta in the 25-nation EU... Congestion is therefore a much more significant factor in the UK than elsewhere and points to a very clear need for the UK to be able to limit immigration by controlling its own borders and having its own immigration policy." (36)
It is the UK that is in the European Union, not England. The UK actually appears in the Migration Watch below the Netherlands, Malta and Belgium. It is not only the Sun journalist who cannot read the chart that appears in the document. The man who wrote the report missed out Belgium. When this was pointed out to Nigel Farage he commented that "Belgium was not a country as far as he was concerned".
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