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Labor Party Decides to Stop Dismissing Complaints About Immigration Abuses as Mere Racism
Tony Blair admitted yesterday the Government had got it WRONG over immigration. The Prime Minister acknowledged for the first time it had been a mistake to brush off warnings that the system is being abused. His spectacular U-turn also included a pledge for a âtop to bottomâ crackdown on scroungers from abroad. Mr Blair even admitted he should not have branded critics racist for objecting to Labourâs seven years of immigration policy failure. He said the issue had reached âcrunch pointâ â days before millions of East Europeans become eligible to live here. The PM told a CBI conference on migration: âWe will neither be fortress Britain, nor will we be an open house. âWhere necessary, we will tighten the immigration system. Where there are abuses, we will deal with them, so that public support for the controlled migration that benefits Britain is maintained. ... We cannot simply dismiss any concern about immigration as racism. In part, what has put immigration back up the agenda â with public concern at its highest since the 1970s â is that there are real, not imagined, abuses of the system that lead to a sense of unfairness.â The PM even referred to cases such as hate-filled Muslim cleric Abu Hamza. He said: âThere are high profile examples of the absurd, like radical clerics coming here to preach religious hate, people staying here to peddle support for terrorism. ... The combination of all these things ... led to a crunch point. That is where we are now. These are real concerns. They are not figments of racist imagination. The vast bulk of the British people are not racist. It is in their nature to be moderate. But they expect government to respond to their worries. They can accept migration that is controlled and selective. They accept and welcome migrants who play by the rules. But they will not accept abuse or absurdity. Why should they? "That is why we have begun a top-to-bottom analysis of the immigration system â how it operates, how it can be improved, how it can agree migration where it is in our countryâs interests and prevent it where it isnât. One thing already is clear â the overwhelming majority migrate in and often out of Britain fairly but there are areas of abuse and we can and should deal with them." Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-04-28 |
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