Nicholas Soames MP has welcomed news that net migration into the UK is down by almost a third since the general election, which is the result of tough reforms pushed through by the Conservatives. Official statistics this week showed that net immigration into the UK in the year ending June 2012 was 163,000; this is down significantly from 235,000 in the year ending June 2010.

The number of visas issued also fell by 10 per cent to the lowest level since 2005, indicating that the downward trend in net migration is set to continue.

Commenting Mr Soames said; “After years of uncontrolled immigration under Labour, people in Mid Sussex want an immigration system they can trust. The Conservatives are pushing through much-needed reforms which are bringing immigration back under control. These latest statistics show that work is paying off with another significant fall in net migration. It is down almost a third since the election – and the latest visa statistics indicate that this trend is set to continue.

“Immigration is still too high but the numbers are going in the right direction and the Conservatives are determined to bring them down further.”

Conservative Immigration Minister; Mark Harper MP said; “We will continue to work hard to bring net migration down from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands by the end of this Parliament and to create a selective immigration system that works in our national interest.”

Nicholas Soames Co-Chairs the Cross Party Group on Balanced Migration with Frank Field, the Labour Member of Parliament for Birkenhead. On Monday the Group warmly welcomed the news that the Government are looking closely at access by new arrivals both to the NHS and to social housing.

Nicholas Soames and Frank Field said; “The Cross Party Group has vigorously been pressing the Health Secretary to introduce checks on access to GPs and wider NHS services. We have also urged the Housing Minister to make the recording of nationality compulsory for new lets and to launch an inquiry into their allocation over recent years.”

Yesterday Frank Field was granted an Urgent Question in the House of Commons, on behalf of the Group, to ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions; Iain Duncan Smith MP, what actions the Government are planning to restrict welfare to newcomers from Bulgaria and Romania from the 1st January, 2014.

Following the Secretary of State’s statement Nicholas Soames asked;
Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con): Does my right hon. Friend agree that the economic benefit to Romanian and Bulgarian families of migrating to the UK is roughly double that to a Polish family, so the scale of his task is huge indeed? When he meets his European colleagues who share the same anxieties, will he see whether they have a different phrase and judgment for the habitual residence rules?
Mr Duncan Smith: I will, and I am at the moment. Since last year, we have been talking to colleagues in various countries, including Germany, about the need to deal with the Commission’s view. In a sense, the Commission is using free movement to enter the realm, I think, of social security, which has never been within its remit, and we have to challenge that. Up until now, Germany has been a little more ambivalent, but interestingly in the past two or three weeks it has suddenly begun to change its tune, and other countries, such as Spain, are coming into the group too. We have asked for urgent meetings immediately with that group—in the next two weeks—and I will raise this matter with it. [Hansard, 5th March, 2013, Vol 559, No 124, Columns 829-827)

Notes
 

• Official statistics published on 28 February 2013 showed that net migration fell to 163,000 in the year to June 2012; down from 247,000 in the year to June 2011 (ONS, Migration Statistics Quarterly Report, 28 February 2013, link).
• The statistics show that 515,000 people immigrated to the UK in the year ending June 2012, which is significantly lower than the 589,000 who migrated the previous year. This decrease has caused the fall in net migration (ibid.).
• Excluding visitor and transit visas, the number of visas issued fell 10% to 507,701 in the year ending December 2012 (compared with 564,807 in the previous 12 months), the lowest 12-monthly total recorded using comparable data available from 2005 (ibid).
• For more information please see the Home Office press release here.
• Cross Party Group on Balanced Migration - www.balancedmigration.com