[ 2013-07-28 ]

MPs issue warning over immigrant numbers
The Public Administration Select Committee said
figures used by ministers could not be trusted,
and described the key measurement of migration as
“little better than a best guess”.

In a highly critical report, the MPs warned that
estimates of how many people migrate to and from
the UK were based on a sample of just 5,000
people, which is “not accurate enough to measure
the effect of migration on population”.

Separate research by The Telegraph has found that
the figure ministers use to show the “success”
of immigration policies may be inaccurate by as
much as 50 per cent.

The “net migration” figure had been
highlighted to hail dramatic progress towards a
target of cutting net migration to 100,000 a year
by 2015, from 252,000 in 2010.

However, the figure is based on research that is
so inaccurate that the Government’s own advisory
committee recommended that the only way to be sure
of meeting the 100,000 target would be to adopt a
target of 50,000.

Britain’s net migration statistics are based on
low numbers of interviews with passengers at
terminals and are subject to massive margins of
error.

The disclosures come as another investigation by
The Telegraph found how Romanian beggars who had
been living in Mayfair, central London, and who
were sent back home simply plan to return to
Britain.

Source - The Telegraph

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