Douglas Carswell's Blog

Immigration hasn't gone away

Westminster politicians sometimes make the mistake of thinking that they’ve tackled a subject because they’ve talked about it. But clever phrases are not the same thing as a policy.

Immigration is a major issue and my constituents raise it with me more than ever.

Dealing with immigration requires more than speeches – it demands concerted government action.

The Conservatives promised to cut immigration “from the hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands”. Despite that, there is growing evidence that immigration has in fact increased since the Coalition took office. 

If the government is serious about ending mass immigration, one of the things it has to address is student visas. While we need a way of enabling genuine students to come and study in the UK, the reality is that student visas are often used as a means of gaining entry to the UK by many people simply wanting to settle here.

It is therefore encouraging to see my colleague Mark Reckless, MP for Rochester, defying efforts by some on the Commons Home Affairs committee to undermine efforts to sort out the broken immigration system. 

Backbench MPs are there to hold government to account – but also to speak up when ministers need encouragement when they try to do the right thing.

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