From Europe News:
Broken borders, broken promises and the anger of a public betrayed
Daily Mail 14 November 2011
By Max Hastings
The scene at Heathrow has become familiar to millions of British people returning from abroad. We sleep-walk through the Arrivals corridors until hitting the buffers in the Immigration hall, crowded with zig-zag queues that can mean an hour-long shuffle before being allowed back into our own country.
Law-abiding citizens and legitimate visitors might find such inconveniences bearable, if we could regard it as the price we pay for a system of scrutiny which keeps Britain’s borders safe. Instead, however, this country has become a magnet for Muslim extremists and indeed terrorists, Russian gangsters, benefit tourists, phoney spouses and make-believe students.
We have created an immigration system which exasperates honest travellers, but conspicuously fails to exclude undesirables. Now we have learnt that its despairing bosses recently washed their hands of their responsibilities altogether: for four months almost anybody who wished could wander into Britain unmonitored.
Bribes
Meanwhile, a senior entry clearance officer has been arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes in return for visas. The Government admits losing computer data on 145,000 asylum and migrant applicants.
The Government projects that Britain’s population will reach 70?million within two decades. But this figure assumes a net immigration figure of 180,000 people a year. In 2009, net immigration was 196,000.
There is no plausible reason to suppose this will fall. Each one of us had better squeeze closer together, to make space for four or five million new arrivals by 2030.
It is hard to exaggerate the anger of most British people about what is happening, or about the latest revelations of official incompetence. It should be much easier to secure an island’s frontiers than those of nations with land neighbours. Instead, however, vast numbers of people are freely entering Britain who will become a drain on our society rather than an asset, who force more house-building in unwelcome places, who threaten the social cohesion of regions where the newcomers concentrate.
The failure of Conservatives to grip this issue — Labour never pretended to care — reflects lamentably on the Government. During his years in opposition, David Cameron promised that if he gained power, incomers’ numbers would be restricted.
‘We need policy to reduce the level of net immigration,’ he declared in 2007. David Davis, then shadow Home Secretary, said: ‘Labour has failed to think through the consequences of an open-door Britain. Unchecked immigration is not inevitable, it’s not the irresistible result of globalisation. It’s just what happens when you have a failed policy’.
Yet, 18 months after the new government took office, no progress has been made towards implementing Cameron’s pledges of reform, which became more muted as the general election approached, and he faced the prospect of having to act on words voters were likely to remember.
(...)
Posted November 14th, 2011 by pk
Broken borders, broken promises and the anger of a public betrayed
Daily Mail 14 November 2011
By Max Hastings
The scene at Heathrow has become familiar to millions of British people returning from abroad. We sleep-walk through the Arrivals corridors until hitting the buffers in the Immigration hall, crowded with zig-zag queues that can mean an hour-long shuffle before being allowed back into our own country.
Law-abiding citizens and legitimate visitors might find such inconveniences bearable, if we could regard it as the price we pay for a system of scrutiny which keeps Britain’s borders safe. Instead, however, this country has become a magnet for Muslim extremists and indeed terrorists, Russian gangsters, benefit tourists, phoney spouses and make-believe students.
We have created an immigration system which exasperates honest travellers, but conspicuously fails to exclude undesirables. Now we have learnt that its despairing bosses recently washed their hands of their responsibilities altogether: for four months almost anybody who wished could wander into Britain unmonitored.
Bribes
Meanwhile, a senior entry clearance officer has been arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes in return for visas. The Government admits losing computer data on 145,000 asylum and migrant applicants.
The Government projects that Britain’s population will reach 70?million within two decades. But this figure assumes a net immigration figure of 180,000 people a year. In 2009, net immigration was 196,000.
There is no plausible reason to suppose this will fall. Each one of us had better squeeze closer together, to make space for four or five million new arrivals by 2030.
It is hard to exaggerate the anger of most British people about what is happening, or about the latest revelations of official incompetence. It should be much easier to secure an island’s frontiers than those of nations with land neighbours. Instead, however, vast numbers of people are freely entering Britain who will become a drain on our society rather than an asset, who force more house-building in unwelcome places, who threaten the social cohesion of regions where the newcomers concentrate.
The failure of Conservatives to grip this issue — Labour never pretended to care — reflects lamentably on the Government. During his years in opposition, David Cameron promised that if he gained power, incomers’ numbers would be restricted.
‘We need policy to reduce the level of net immigration,’ he declared in 2007. David Davis, then shadow Home Secretary, said: ‘Labour has failed to think through the consequences of an open-door Britain. Unchecked immigration is not inevitable, it’s not the irresistible result of globalisation. It’s just what happens when you have a failed policy’.
Yet, 18 months after the new government took office, no progress has been made towards implementing Cameron’s pledges of reform, which became more muted as the general election approached, and he faced the prospect of having to act on words voters were likely to remember.
(...)
Posted November 14th, 2011 by pk
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