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Most Brits 'want immigration limits'
3/ 4/2006
MORE than three quarters of Britons want to see an annual limit on immigration, a survey said today.
The poll for right-wing immigration think-tank Migrationwatch said 69% of people also feared Britain was losing its own culture.
Asked if there should be an annual limit on foreigners coming to the UK, 50% strongly agreed and 26% agreed. Only 4% strongly disagreed and 6% disagreed, with the rest not expressing a view.
The YouGov poll of more than 2,000 people found that 71% believed the Government's priority should be getting more British people back to work rather than bringing in more immigrants to fill job vacancies.
Migrationwatch chairman Sir Andrew Green said: "It is difficult to see how the Government's handling of this issue could be more thoroughly rejected by the British people.
"The survey shows that they fundamentally disagree with the Government's open ended immigration policy and feel that their views are being ignored in the process."
He added: "These are very high numbers and the results are similar across all social classes."
Six out of 10 questioned in the poll said current levels of immigration were making it difficult to achieve good community relations.
Nearly seven out of 10 agreed Britain was already overcrowded.
Segregated
And 73% agreed society was becoming increasingly racially segregated.
The survey found 10% of the public agreed the Government was listening to public opinion about immigration.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The report issued by Migration Watch today represents the comments of a small fraction of the UK population.
"The Government has made very clear its migration policy is based on the needs of the UK economy by attracting skilled individuals the country needs not on arbitrary quotas.
"The system will be robust against abuse and along with new measures announced in the new Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act tackle illegal working and ensure our borders are secure."
She added: "The UK has a smaller foreign-born population than Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, the US and France.
"Figures published in 2001 showed that migrants generate 10% of UK GDP while representing only 8% of the UK population.
"The Government has been and will continue to listen to the views of the public."
WOULD you call for an annual limit on immigration numbers? Have your say.
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5/04/2006 at 10:56
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Did the authorities do enough to prepare for the icy conditions?
So its not like they are rich and also a miniscule ammount get benefit and those that do are usually given food tokens.
Apparently about ??5 per british tax payer is used on asylum seekers per year.. the figure fr tax used on war per person is in the hundreads...go figure!
5/04/2006 at 14:31
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