Immigration minister Phil Woolas launched a stinging criticism today of the Government’s record of managing migration.
Mr Woolas criticised Labour’s failure to fund asylum removals properly which he said had caused ‘untold human misery and division’.
He also condemned the use of translation services instead of encouraging migrants to learn English.
Speaking at a debate in central London with the Dutch Justice Secretary, he said Britain was ten years behind Holland which has clamped down on migration levels in recent years on policies such as new migrants bringing in spouses.
He said: ‘Our failure to resource the asylum processes has caused untold human misery and division within our communities.
‘My attitude to this issue is I am going to clear the backlog because it is the right thing to do morally for asylum seekers and the right thing to do for the country as a whole.
‘He later said his criticisms applied as much to Tory governments and said the Home Office was currently ‘very much fit for purpose’.
But he added: ‘I do accept that the Government didn’t provide the framework of policy (for asylum removals) that anticipated the problems well enough.’
He said that until governments got control of managing immigration, it was impossible to help new arrivals integrate in society.
‘Just like in the Netherlands…people didn’t believe the authorities knew what they were doing and there’s a very good reason for that – they didn’t.
‘If you cannot have border controls that you can count people in and count people out the country…if you can’t have that proper system, and carry the confidence of the public with you, you cannot help the immigrant to integrate in to society.’
Mr Woolas, who has been in his job less than a month, hit the headlines on Saturday when he suggested there could be a population cap of 70 million, before appearing to row back.
Mr Woolas said Britain was ‘completely screwed up’ about the idea of a cap on population numbers.
He said: ‘We are, in this country, completely screwed up because we are asked the question about the cap without understanding what the question means.’
In his interview with The Times on Saturday he backed the idea of a ‘balance’ between the numbers coming in and those going out. He later suggested people had been ‘confused’ by his statement and denied he had promised a 70 million population cap in Britain.
Today he said he wanted to help immigrants to ‘help themselves become part of our society’ and ‘earn’ citizenship in Britain by integrating and learning English.
The Dutch model, which he praised as ‘trailblazing’ could be a ‘wake up call’ to Britain, he said, and claimed many Dutch policies were being brought in here.
But he also, controversially, backed multiculturalism, which has come under sustained attack for encouraging separate communities to exist and discouraging integration.
‘Our starting point is that multiculturalism is a good thing,’ he said
Filed under: Immigration | Tagged: Asylum, Home Office, Immigration, Population
