THE KIRKHOPE COMMISSION ON IMMIGRATION BUILDING A FAIR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM September 2004 building a fair immigration system 2 building a fair immigration system CONTENTS Foreword by the Chairman 4 Executive Summary 5 Preamble 7 Encouraging high-skilled economic 10 migration Reinstating border controls and internal 17 reporting Family reunions and chain migration 22 Additional proposals 28 Appendix 1: Membership 32 Appendix 2: Meeting dates 34 Appendix 3: Evidence 35 Appendix 4: Asylum Commission 39 Recommendations 3 building a fair immigration system FOREWORD At the beginning of the year, I was asked by the Shadow Home Secretary, The Rt Hon David Davis by Timothy MP, to continue the work carried out by the Asylum Kirkhope MEP Commission in 2003 (see Appendix 4) by this time looking into Britain’s immigration policy. The members of the Commission are shown in the Appendix and I should like to thank all of them for their valuable contributions. The Commission met on ten occasions in London and took oral and written evidence, as well as carrying out a thorough review of the present situation and the potential action required by an incoming Conservative Government. This report attempts to provide some solutions to the present immigration crisis but it is not a complete overview of UK immigration – there are many books, pamphlets and other contributions that meet this objective. It is a set of recommendations which we believe would, if implemented, assist in improving Britain’s immigration system. I should particularly like to thank Matthew Elliott who has acted as Special Adviser to the Commission. I am also grateful to those who have contributed in other ways to our work. I hope this report will form a significant part of the future immigration policy of the Conservative Party. Timothy Kirkhope MEP September 2004 4 building a fair immigration system EXECUTIVE The Commission recommends the following: SUMMARY Encouraging high-skilled economic migration Recommendation 1 Simplify the current overcomplicated work permit schemes Recommendation 2 Reinstate the higher skills threshold and introduce minimum salary requirement for work permits Recommendation 3 Abolish in-work benefits for immigrant workers Reinstating border controls and internal reporting Recommendation 4 Biometric data, visa type and travel information must be recorded before embarkation to the UK Recommendation 5 Internal reporting to be introduced Recommendation 6 Embarkation controls to be reintroduced Recommendation 7 Zero-tolerance approach to overstaying Family reunions and chain migration Recommendation 8 Minimum income requirements for sponsoring spouses Recommendation 9 Citizenship requirement for sponsoring spouses Recommendation 10 Higher age requirement for sponsoring spouses Recommendation 11 Restriction of right to sponsor parents 5 building a fair immigration system Additional proposals Recommendation 12 A Cabinet-level Minister for Migration and Integration to coordinate policy Recommendation 13 Compulsory medical examination before embarkation to UK Recommendation 14 Language requirement for permanent residency All the recommendations in Building a Fair Immigration System were unanimously agreed to by the Commission with the exception of Recommendation 9, which Philip Barth dissented from. 6 building a fair immigration system PREAMBLE “Britain is full.” This is the view of a growing number of people. Whether or not that assessment is completely fair, Britain is certainly one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It is twice as densely populated as France and three times as densely populated as Spain. Our island nation is not like America in the 1880s, with new frontiers and uninhabited land to settle. Britain is a small island with a large population and immigration to the UK is increasing (see graph below). Density of population has a direct effect on quality of life. More people occupying a finite space can result in greater levels of anti-social behaviour and crime; deteriorating mental and physical health; overcrowded classrooms and expanding waiting lists; traffic jams and over-crowded buses. This overcrowding concerns not only the recipients of public services but also the providers – the front line staff who keep our public services running. Immigration affects some areas more than others, with Greater London and the South East being particularly affected. This effect is most readily seen in the housing shortage, where the Government’s very own projections estimate that two million new homes will be needed by 2021 for immigrants alone (Browne 2002, page 38). Increasing property prices and overcrowding are caused by the growing demand for housing. Insufficient property and increased immigration have both contributed to this. There is also a disproportionate effect on public services in London and the South East, for example, where water companies have voiced their 7 building a fair immigration system concern that the water supply and sewage disposal system cannot meet the growing demand from the Government’s house building programme in the region. With London absorbing a population the size of Leeds every three or four years (Harris 2003, page 25), the metropolis is rapidly becoming a city in severe crisis. Immigration also has a cultural dimension. At low levels, immigrants are easily integrated into communities. But with high levels of immigration, as we have seen in recent years, cultural differences lead to divided communities. Of course, as Michael Howard rightly said in his Burnley Speech in February 2004, “We are a stronger and better country, rich in our cultural diversity, because of the immigrant communities that have settled here.” This is right, but for change to be comfortable, it must be progressive, not radical. Our culture must always develop through well managed integration. Rising immigration has not been matched by a corresponding emphasis on community cohesion. For these reasons, we believe that the unquantified migration of low-skilled, low-paid workers and family members, encouraged by this Labour government, must now stop. The business community may benefit from cheap labour, especially in the short term, but low paid, low-skilled British workers, many of whom are British-born from settled immigrant communities, lose out from fresh immigration. According to migration expert Anthony Browne, who gave evidence to the Commission: “The unskilled are four times as likely to be unemployed as the skilled. Ethnic minorities in Britain are twice as likely to be unemployed as white people, with some communities such as Pakistanis and Bangladeshis suffering unemployment of around 50 per cent.” 8 building a fair immigration system We agree with him. Britain should not need more low-skilled workers when there is a more than adequate supply to meet the requirements of our business community in the combined labour markets of the European Union. UK immigration policy must balance the interests of immigrants, would-be immigrants, the host country and the taxpayer. At present, this policy is disproportionately weighted against Britain’s low- skilled workers. It must be changed – and quickly. Entry clearance applications granted, 1992-2002 1800000 1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000 600000 400000 200000 0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Source: Home Office (November 2003) ‘Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2002’ 9 building a fair immigration system ENCOURAGING Immigration policy should be predominately an economic question. The British economy needs HIGH-SKILLED and has always benefited from the work of highly ECONOMIC skilled immigrants. However, it does not need to import low-skilled workers when people from MIGRATION across the 25 member states of the European Union are now freely able to work here. David Blunkett asserted in November 2003 that there was “no obvious limit” on the number of immigrants who could settle in the UK. The Home Secretary believes that large scale immigration of both low and high skilled workers is economically beneficial to the UK. Having looked thoroughly at the economic consequences of immigration the Commission concludes that whereas high-skilled, high-income immigrants should be welcomed, low-skilled, low- wage immigration should be discouraged. This is in line with Chancellor Gordon Brown’s continued emphasis on making Britain a high-skilled, high- productivity economy. Doesn’t Britain have a declining workforce? Supporters of mass low-skilled immigration often assert that Britain has a declining workforce and that the economy needs extra workers of all skill levels. This is patently not true. The Government’s very own Actuary Service predicts that, with zero net immigration, the workforce will grow by 1.2m by 2020, as the data below illustrates. 10 building a fair immigration system UK workforce with zero net immigration (millions) Year 2000 2010 2020 2031 Workforce (millions of people of working age) 36.89 37.39 38.13 36.82 Workforce as % of total population61.7% 62.2% 63.2% 61.2% Source: Government Actuary Service, 2000-based projections, natural change only variant. Britain is not suffering a shortage of low-skilled workers. With over four million people in the UK wanting to find a job, and with freedom of movement within the newly expanded EU, we do not need any more low-skilled immigrants. Isn’t Britain facing a demographic time-bomb? Supporters of mass immigration also assert that Britain faces a demographic time bomb with ever fewer workers having to support ever