Is it just me or does anyone else suspect that there have been as many
dodgy uses of data in some of the recent radstats postings as there might
be on the migrationwatch website? At least given the uncertainty about the
magnitude of the immigration flow perhaps all the numbers used in debate
ought to be rounded a bit!
For anyone interested in the government's figures of legal recorded entries
to the country please see the links below to reports issued - conveniently
- today. The reports might help separate in minds the difference between
asylum and immigration which require different policies yet are sadly too
often confused.
Table 3.1 in the first link show grants of settlement of nearly 1/2 million
in the last four years - double the rate seen in the 1990s. One in six were
given grant to leave for employment. I guess that is the sort of trend that
gives migrationwatch its oxygen.
Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom - 2003
http://www.info4local.gov.uk/searchreport.asp?id=21219&heading=e-mail+alert
Asylum Statistics: United Kingdom - 2003
http://www.info4local.gov.uk/searchreport.asp?id=21218&heading=e-mail+alert
Quarterly Asylum Statistics: Second quarter 2004
http://www.info4local.gov.uk/searchreport.asp?id=21217&heading=e-mail+alert
I thought the interesting point about the original posting - the recent
Sunday Times article - was the alleged manipulation of the ONS by the Home
Office. The link below takes you to the ONS website where their letter of
denial can be found. It seems that there was no such interference on this
occasion. Regardless of diverging views on the merits of the Home Office
and migrationwatch - and their public spat - we can all agree that is good
news.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/other_letters/richard_alldritt_23aug04.asp
Simon
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