British Prime Minister gets tough on immigration

British PM gets tough on immigration

Immigrants who have come to live in the UK and refused to learn English and integrate into society are disrupting communities across the country, according to British Prime Minister David Cameron.

In his most outspoken speech to date, he today (Thursday April 14) said that too many immigrants have been allowed into the country and added that the government will stick to its pledge to cut arrivals from non European Union countries by tens of thousands.

He also blamed the previous Labour government for the current situation that has created a ‘kind of discomfort and disjointedness’ by allowing immigration to become too high.

Cameron said that the Labour party presided over the ‘largest influx’ of immigration in British history, which saw 2.2 million more people settling in Britain between 1997 and 2009 than leaving to live abroad.

He pointed out that this has placed serious pressure on schools, housing and the NHS, and has also created social pressures. ‘Real communities are bound by common experiences forged by friendship and conversation, knitted together by all the rituals of the neighbourhood, from the school run to the chat down the pub. And these bonds can take time,’ he said.

‘When there have been significant numbers of new people arriving in neighbourhoods, perhaps not able to speak the same language as those living there, on occasions not really wanting or even willing to integrate, that has created a kind of discomfort and disjointedness in some neighbourhoods. This has been the experience for many people in our country and I believe it is untruthful and unfair not to speak about it and address it,’ he added.

And he warned that in future EU member states will be subject to tougher transitional controls and the UK can address immigration from outside the EU through the cap on non-EU immigration. He added that the government is thinking ‘incredibly carefully’ about which workers should be allowed into the UK.

He added though that the UK will ‘always be open to the best and brightest from around the world’.

The new immigration cap is being split into monthly allocations, with a total of 4,200 available for April and 1,500 each month after that. Non EU workers earning more than £150,000 a year are to be excluded from the cap and scientists will also be given ‘a significant advantage’ in coming to the UK, as firms attempt to fill jobs where there are staff shortages.

Cameron also condemned forced marriages and those who say they should be tolerated. ‘There are forced marriages taking place in our country, and overseas as a means of gaining entry to the UK. This is the practice where some young British girls are bullied and threatened into marrying someone they don’t want to.

‘I’ve got no time for those who say this is a culturally relative issue. It is wrong, full stop, and we’ve got to stamp it out. Then there are just the straightforward sham marriages,’ he added.

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