Thread: 78% of Britons Want Jobless Immigrants Forced to Leave U.K.

More than three-quarters of Britons want to see jobless immigrants forced to leave UK
By Matthew Hickley
Last updated at 10:09 PM on 16th March 2009

The Government has failed to 'get control' of the issue of immigration, ministers admitted today.

Phill Woolas, the Immigration Minister, said he was not surprised by findings of a poll which showed that nearly eight out of ten people believe all unemployed foreign migrants should be asked to leave the UK.

Mr Woolas said the the British people would never be comfortable with immigration until they believe ministers have a firm grip on the nation's borders.

Mr Woolas said: 'The poll figures are not a surprise. They are a concern, and in significant part they are because the public don’t believe that the government has got control.'

He added: 'The central goal of my immigration policy is to provide the assurance to the public that we know who’s here and who’s not here.'


Asylum seekers pictured in Calais recently: Many are hoping to reach Britain where they believe they will find work, but as new study shows three-quarters of people want non-working immigrants to leave the UK


The minister claimed opposition to foreign workers was 'based on the belief that the immigrant has no legitimate right to be here,' adding: 'We will only get a country that is comfortable with immigration when we can show the Government has it under control.'

Mr Woolas's admission highlights the Labour Government's defensiveness over immigration - following years of increasingly tough rhetoric and repeated efforts to tighten controls.

More than half of those surveyed in the poll for the Financial Times opposed giving other EU citizens the right to live and work in Britain - one of the cornerstone principles of the European Union.

It questioned thousands of people across the UK, Europe and the United States regarding immigration and the economy.

Among the British public it highlights widespread ill-feeling towards foreign workers at a time when unemployment is nearing the two million mark.

In the UK a huge majority - 78 per cent – believed immigrants should be asked to leave the country if they do not have a job, with only 14 per cent disagreeing and eight per cent undecided.

A similar number held the same view in Italy along with sizeable majorities in Spain, Germany and the U.S. and around half of those questioned in France.

Just over half of British adults opposed the right of all EU citizens to settle and work in Britain.

A narrow majority of Germans agreed, while there was slightly more support for the right of free movement and access to Labour markets among French, Italians and Spaniards.

An estimated one million foreign workers flocked to the UK after eight eastern European states joined the union in 2004.

Most other member states exercised a treaty right to bar eastern Europeans from their own job markets, but Britain allowed a free-for-all and the huge numbers arriving massively exceeded the Government's expectations.

Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said: 'What this poll represents is the combination of that policy failure with the obvious pressures on the job market because of the recession.'

Phil Woolas suffered a further setback yesterday when watchdogs rejected his criticism of the Office for National Statistics over its release of immigrant population figures last month.

The ONS brought forward the published of the startling figures - showing that one in nine UK residents was born overseas - because of officials judged that the material was topical and important to the immigration debate.

But Phil Woolas, who faced embarrassment over the figures, unleashed a ferocious attack on the independent statisticians accusing them of straying into 'the most inflamed debate in British politics' and claiming the release was 'at best naive, or, at worst, sinister.'

Today the UK Statistics Authority gave its strong backing to the ONS, concluding that the publication was 'consistent' with the rules and the timing was 'influenced by the level of public interest in the topic.'

The ONS's press release was 'factually accurate' and 'neutral and impartial' in tone, the watchdog added, whereas failing to publish the figures could have led to a misinformed debate based on flawed figures - although it said the ONS should have made a formal announcement explaining why it was bringing the publication forward, and included more supporting information.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ve-UK.html

Mr Woolas said the the British people would never be comfortable with immigration until they believe ministers have a firm grip on the nation's borders.

Yea...I know how the Brits feel!

Most Europeans, Americans want jobless immigrants to leave: Poll

Kate Kelland , Reuters
Published: Monday, March 16, 2009

LONDON - Most people in major European countries and the United States believe unemployed immigrants should be asked to leave, a poll showed on Monday, indicating growing fears over competition for scarce jobs.

The FT/Harris polls published by the Financial Times showed more than three-quarters of Italians and Britons and a majority in France, Germany, Spain and the United States would support their governments asking immigrants to leave

The results of the poll suggest rising unemployment could push the issue of immigration up the political agenda in Europe and may boost support for far-right parties.

Unemployment rates in Europe and the United States have begun to rise sharply in response to the global economic crisis. Spain's jobless rate is more than 14 per cent, while Germany and France have rates of over 7 and 8 per cent respectively.

In Britain, where unemployment is at its highest for a decade, the tight job market has put a renewed focus on the use of foreign workers. British construction workers protested earlier this year over the hiring of foreign contractors.

Britain's immigration minister, Phil Woolas, told the Financial Times the survey's findings were "not a surprise" but were "a concern" and that the government was keen to reassure the public it was in control of immigration.

The FT Harris poll questioned a total of 6,538 adults online in France, Germany, Britain, Spain and the United States and Italy between Feb. 25, and Mar. 3.

A majority of respondents in all countries said they would support their government asking immigrants to leave the country if they did not have a job.

The poll also showed that most Britons and just under half of Germans are opposed to citizens of other EU countries getting into their national job market.

Most Italians and Spaniards, however, said they did support EU citizens who wanted to work in their countries.

Asked about protectionism, around a third of French, Italians, Spaniards and Germans said they did not think national protectionism could significantly contribute to their country coming out of the recession. The FT/Harris poll also found that just under half of Germans and Americans believed that free trade could significantly help their country to come out of recession.

But others were less sure: Just over a third of Italians and Britons agreed with that suggestion.

http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/regina ... id=1394810