Christopher Pincher MP Welcomes Prime Minister’s commitment to ‘get a grip on immigration’

The Member of Parliament for Elford, Edingale & Tamworth, Christopher Pincher welcomed the Prime Minister’s commitment in a speech on 10 October at the Institute of Government to ‘get a grip on immigration into our country’.

The Prime Minister argued that Britain should ‘attract the brightest and the best’, as well as ‘foreign investors and entrepreneurs’ to come here.  He said that Britain had ‘been enriched by the contribution of generations of migrants’ and would ‘always be open to those who are seeking asylum from persecution’.

However David Cameron was concerned that ‘excessive immigration brings pressures, real pressures on our communities up and down the country’.  He said that tension could result when ‘large numbers of people arrive in new neighbourhoods, perhaps not all able to speak the same language as those who live there, perhaps not always wanting to integrate, perhaps seeking simply to take advantage of our NHS’.

Between 1997 and 2009 net migration reached 2.2 million people – that’s twice the population of Birmingham. This Coalition Government is taking action to control immigration:

o             The Government has capped economic migration from outside the EU.

o             The student visa system has been overhauled to tackle abuses.

o             The family visa route will now be reformed to ensure that those coming here do not become a burden on the welfare system or on the taxpayer.