Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢d like to try and put into some perspective my personal concerns about immigration in this country.
To my mind there are three main areas of concern.
I think it is generally agreed that most of the worlds terrorism these days is down to the various fundamentalist muslim groups. It is also a given that the majority of immigrants to the UK are of muslim persuasion. It is not rocket science to deduce that therefore a large number of immigrants could also be potential terrorists. Not good !
It is often stated that immigrants are vital to the UK and that they have a positive effect on the economy. A figure of £2.5bn is often quoted but this figure was carefully chosen by the Home Office in a period when public sector accounts were in surplus, plus they wrongly attributed Corporation Tax from residents abroad plus any effects of illegals and asylum seekers means this figure should probably read only £0.5bn - a drop in the ocean. It also does not take into consideration the effects on population. UK is overcrowded with 60m people and 250,000 immigrants per year (not including †˜illegalsâà ƒÆ’¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€ žÂ¢ of which 500,000 are admitted to be already here). We are already 12x more densely populated than USA and whilst it is true there is a greater percentage of immigrants in many European countries, on the whole they are far less densely grouped than in the UK. Donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t you think we have passed the UKââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s †˜optimum populationââ ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ ? It is calculated that 80% of projected future population growth will be due to immigrants and their birth rate. The effects on the infrastructure are difficult to assess but the strain on housing, law enforcement, border controls, transport, education, health etc are beginning to show. Donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t forget that of those immigrants who do work (their unemployment rate is twice that of the indigenous people) many take low paid jobs that force out British people. We should be training our own people rather than importing workers.
Lastly the effects on society as a whole is a contentious issue. It would be fair to say that it would be nigh on impossible to integrate 250.000 immigrants every year even if they wished to integrate. Most now live in inner city ghettos equivalent to those of the USA cities, displacing native people and forming an under class with very different religions and cultural values to our own, creating social problems for all of us. The problems of crime, violence, racial and religious tension (of which the wearing of the burka is only one manifestation), competition for jobs and housing are not going away any time soon. Many think immigrants restrict individual freedoms and democratic processes and are concerned that continued immigration is destroying respect for and love of, the history and traditions of the UK and through ethnic replacement, which may be leading to native British people losing control over their own country. The net effect IMO is the erosion of the institutions and values we have created for ourselves and ironically are those values which make the UK attractive to outsiders.
I have to say there are grounds for doubting both the viability and the desirability of multiculturalism. The most obvious outcome is the violence of civil disorder. It is an experiment that has gone seriously wrong.