This anti-immigration arms race exemplifies everything that’s wrong with politicians October 13, 2014 "Race relations/immigration” is now ranked by voters as the most important issue facing Britain, according to Ipsos MORI. On 39 per cent, it’s above the economy and the NHS – areas the Conservatives and Labour want at the centre of their 2015 campaigns. This concern is not new. Even in the 1990s, when net migration [...]
Row in the City as Boris vows to cut EU migration October 13, 2014 BORIS Johnson took the fight to UKIP yesterday, pledging to introduce a points-based immigration system or else quit the EU altogether. But his promise sparked a war of words between business groups and MPs as some backed his plan while others want firms to be allowed to hire the workers they need. “In the renegotiation, [...]
2014 Nobel Prize winner John O’Keefe: UK needs more immigrants to boost science October 7, 2014 Yesterday, John O'Keefe became joint winner of the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine followng his contribution to the discovery of the brain's “inner GPS” system. The US-born 75-year-old is currently a researcher at University College London, and at a press conference following the prize-giving he said his career had really taken off in [...]
David Cameron’s anti-immigration rhetoric spells doom for London’s creative firms October 5, 2014 David Cameron’s Conservative party conference speech last week was in many ways a great success. Passionate and compelling, he gave easily the best performance of the party leaders so far. But for all the strong messages on the economy and popular tax giveaways, the government’s continued and deepening anti-immigration rhetoric, now directed squarely at Europe, concerns [...]
UK jobs boosted by EU migrant workers as businesses increase apprenticeships September 29, 2014 Immigrants from Europe are not undercutting the wages of young people in the UK, but may actually be increasing their chances of getting a job, according to a report released today. The research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development also found that firms employing migrants often had more internship and apprenticeship opportunities, which [...]
Vince Cable calls for skilled migrant cap to be scrapped or risk economic recovery in letter to Theresa May September 28, 2014 The cap on skilled migrant workers is damaging the UK's economic recovery according to Business Secretary Vince Cable. Cable has written to the Home Secretary Theresa May urging her to scrap the cap on skilled migrants coming to work in the UK from outside the European Union because it’s a “barrier to British growth”. The [...]
Ukip policies 2014: Immigration cap “lunacy”, “intellectually and morally bankrupt” and bad for business say economists September 26, 2014 Ukip has announced the immigration policy it will put before the British people at next year's general election. Ukip's spokesman on migration and financial affairs Steven Woolfe told the party's conference in Doncaster that net migration would be limited to 50,000 a year under an Australian-style points based system. The party also pledged to employ a further 2,500 [...]
Michael Heseltine’s haircut homily is high value at Immigration Awards September 24, 2014 “I call him Michael, but I doubt he remembers my name,” Hugh Davies, ex-foreign office diplomat told The Capitalist of Lord Heseltine, at the High-Value Immigration Awards last night. Davies, a judge for awards (now in their second year and organised by InvestUK), met Hesseltine in 1973 when they were both part of the diplomatic [...]
The deficit? Immigration? Ed Miliband forgets to mention key issues in Labour party conference speech September 24, 2014 Ed Miliband's post-political career is unlikely to be in acting. Reciting his Labour party conference speech from memory, he ended up forgetting to say the most crucial parts. While focussing on the future of the NHS and the emotional appeal of Labour as a party for the few rather than the masses, he failed to [...]
Tackling illegal immigration: UK pledges £12m to help France September 20, 2014 The UK government has pledged £12m to France to help it stop illegal immigrants making their way from Calais to Britain. An agreement between home secretary Theresa May and her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve will result in the two countries working more closely together to reduce the scale of the problem. Part of that [...]