Migration Watch UK

MigrationWatch UK was founded in December 2001{{cite book|first=Patricia|last=Noxolo|chapter=Negotiating security: Governmentality and asylum/immigration NGOs in the UK|editor1-first=Alan|editor1-last=Ingram|editor2-first=Klaus|editor2-last=Dodds|title=Spaces of Security and Insecurity: Geographies of the War on Terror|year=2009|location=Farnham|publisher=Ashgate|page=140}} by Sir Andrew Green, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia. In an article in The Independent, Deborah Orr writes that the organisation came into being when, "after reading some of his anti-immigration letters in The Times", the then Sir Andrew approached David Coleman, Professor of Demography at Oxford University, and they subsequently set up MigrationWatch.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/andrew-green-a-very-english-way-of-stirring-up-fear-of-foreigners-588039.html|title=Andrew Green: A very English way of stirring up fear of foreigners|last=Orr|first=Deborah|date=26 July 2003|work=The Independent|accessdate=13 December 2009 | location=London}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

The group first came to public attention in 2002 when it stated that immigration, including an estimate of illegal immigrants, was running at two million per decade "and probably more".{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/pressReleases/01-August-2002#19|title=Net migration into the UK is now two million every decade and probably more|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|date=2 August 2002|accessdate=5 April 2013}}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1473266/Immigration-warning-vindicated.html|title=Immigration warning 'vindicated'|last=Johnston|first=Philip|date=4 October 2004|work=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=13 December 2009 | location=London}} This claim was challenged at the time by a number of public commentators,{{cite news|last=Orr |first=Deborah |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/andrew-green-a-very-english-way-of-stirring-up-fear-of-foreigners-97732.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220514/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/andrew-green-a-very-english-way-of-stirring-up-fear-of-foreigners-97732.html |archive-date=14 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Andrew Green: A very English way of stirring up fear of foreigners |work=The Independent |date=26 July 2003 |accessdate=14 January 2020}}{{cite journal|title=Browse journals by subject |publisher=Tandfonline.com |doi=10.1080/00313220307593 |s2cid=143699355 }}{{cite journal|title=Browse journals by subject |publisher=Tandfonline.com |doi=10.1080/13569770601086188 |s2cid=154004571 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/a-nasty-little-group-playing-an-old-and-unwelcome-trick-172274.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220514/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/a-nasty-little-group-playing-an-old-and-unwelcome-trick-172274.html |archive-date=14 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=A nasty little group playing an old, and unwelcome, trick |work=The Independent |date=6 August 2002 |accessdate=14 January 2020}} with an editorial in The Independent at the time criticising what it called "tendentious projections and the deliberate citing of the vast populations of countries such as India to frighten people and wreck any rational debate". Two years later, Philip Johnston in the Daily Telegraph would argue that Government Actuary's Department forecasts that the UK population would increase by six million people due to immigration over three decades "appear to confirm claims made by Migrationwatch two years ago, when the group first sprang to prominence". A later Telegraph editorial following the 2011 Census would call the group's initial claims "overly cautious".{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/9745585/Labour-has-no-right-to-lecture-on-immigration.html |title=Labour has no right to lecture on immigration |work=Telegraph |accessdate=14 January 2020}}

The group quickly attracted the attention of Home Secretary David Blunkett, who in 2002 set up a unit intended to monitor and rebut the organisation and sought to control the timing of statistical releases to avoid pressure from it.{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/labour-dirty-war-on-migration-watchdog-5099f8lphtd |title=Labour dirty war on migration watchdog |work=The Sunday Times |date=22 August 2004 |access-date=10 February 2020}}

The organisation has an advisory council, which is chaired by Baron Green and whose members include David Coleman, Caroline Cox and Alp Mehmet, former ambassador to Iceland.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sm6rr|title=Clive Myrie talks to Alp Mehmet|date=28 May 2013|publisher=BBC Radio 4}}

MigrationWatch's website contains a range of briefing papers to support the organisation's perspective on the statistical, legal, economic and historical aspects of migration, and on topics such as the European Union, housing, health and social cohesion, as they relate to immigration.{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/briefingPapers|title=Briefing papers|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|accessdate=12 December 2009}} It has also helped to contribute to briefings on immigration for third parties such as the BBC.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50132840 |title=BBC Briefing on Immigration: How do I use it? |work=BBC News |date=19 January 2020 |accessdate=27 January 2020}}

MigrationWatch has been frequently cited and seen its spokespeople featured in British newspapers such as the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Sunday Times,{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/uk-home-to-1m-illegal-immigrants-92ll6h0dxxj |title=UK home to 1m illegal immigrants |work=The Sunday Times |date=25 April 2010 |access-date=27 January 2020}} The Guardian, Daily Express and Daily Star.{{cite book|last=Boswell|first=Christina|title=The Political Uses of Expert Knowledge: Immigration Policy and Social Research|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|year=2009|pages=125–127|isbn=978-0-521-51741-6}}{{cite book|last=Milne|first=Kirsty|title=Manufacturing Dissent: Single-issue protest, the public and the press|publisher=Demos|location=London|year=2005|page=19|isbn=1-84180-141-0|url=http://www.demos.co.uk/files/manufacturingdissent.pdf}} as well as British broadcast media such as BBC News and ITV News.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lq0rq |title=Border controls: Migration Watch on Theresa May actions |work=BBC News |accessdate=14 January 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7vhQ4l1Z0c |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/B7vhQ4l1Z0c |archive-date=14 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Migration Watch UK's Alp Mehmet on ITV Midlands News 7th April 2015 |publisher=YouTube |accessdate=14 January 2020}}{{cbignore}}

In October 2011, the group started a petition on the UK Parliament petitions website calling on the government to take "all necessary steps" to stop the UK's population exceeding 70 million. The petition reached over 100,000 signatures.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15630921 |title=Migrationwatch UK petition on immigration tops 100,000 |work=BBC News |accessdate=14 January 2020}}

MigrationWatch argues that the growth of the population of the United Kingdom through international migration is a key "factor driving problems around pressure on school places, the NHS, housing and the transport infrastructure". The group in 2018 argued that migration was linked to 82% of population growth between 2001 and 2016, when combining both net migration and children born to immigrant parents.{{cite web|author=Joël Reland |url=https://fullfact.org/immigration/population-growth-migration/ |title=Is 82% of population growth driven by migration? |date=13 September 2018 |publisher=Full Fact |accessdate=14 January 2020}} In the same year it predicted that the population of the United Kingdom would exceed 70 million by 2026.{{cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/03/why-mass-immigration-explains-the-housing-crisis/ |title=Why mass immigration explains the housing crisis |work=The Spectator |date=17 March 2018 |accessdate=28 January 2020}}

A 2019 report by MigrationWatch condemned the Conservative government's approach to immigration, stating that its policies could increase immigrant numbers by 100,000.{{cite news |last1=Hymas |first1=Charles |title=Net migration 'could increase by 100,000' under Government's post-Brexit regime |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/02/12/net-migration-could-increase-100000-governments-post-brexit/ |work=The Telegraph |date=12 February 2019}} It has called Britain's port security "resourced to fail" in stopping illegal immigration,{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/britain-has-most-illegal-immigrants-in-the-eu-wvg9wlcmx |title=Britain has most illegal immigrants in the EU |work=The Times |date=14 November 2019 |access-date=28 January 2020}} and has opposed the idea of an amnesty for illegal immigrants in Britain, after it was postulated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.{{cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/11/the-case-for-amnesty-why-its-time-to-offer-citizenship-to-illegal-immigrants/ |title=The case for amnesty: why it's time to offer citizenship to illegal immigrants |work=The Spectator |accessdate=21 November 2019}} The group criticised the same government for extending the period in which overseas students can stay in the UK from four months to two years, arguing that it would "likely lead to foreign graduates staying on to stack shelves".{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49655719 |title=Immigration status: Ministers reverse May-era student visa rules |work=BBC News |accessdate=21 November 2019}} It was also critical of proposals by Boris Johnson to scrap the £30,000 salary cap on migrants, warning that abolishing the cap could lead to further rises in migration.{{cite news|author=Charles Hymas and Tony Diver |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/01/21/theresa-mays-30000-salary-cap-migrants-replaced-australian-style/ |title=Theresa May's £30,000 salary cap on migrants to be replaced by Australian-style points system |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=21 January 2020 |accessdate=27 January 2020}}

The group has expressed opposition to sham marriages, and in August 2019 called for nationality profiling in an attempt to crack down on the practice.{{Cite news|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/calls-for-nationality-profiling-to-stop-sham-marriages-very-worrying-38449939.html|title=Calls for nationality profiling to stop sham marriages 'very worrying'|work=Belfast Telegraph}}

MigrationWatch supports the principle of political asylum,{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/whoweare.asp|title=Who we are|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|date=30 March 2011|accessdate=5 April 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516091403/http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/whoweare.asp|archive-date=16 May 2008}} but argues that many asylum seekers do not have a genuine case for qualifying for refugee status and are instead using the asylum system to gain entry to the UK for economic reasons.{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefingPaper/document/91|title=Asylum seekers – A serious case of misunderstanding|last=Mitchell|first=Harry|date=20 January 2009|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|accessdate=28 December 2009}} The group has also been strongly critical of what it sees as the government's failure to remove many of those whose claims are rejected.{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/Briefingpapers/migration_trends/failed_asylum_seekers.asp|title=The number of failed asylum seekers remaining in the UK|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|date=15 April 2004|accessdate=5 April 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070923144849/http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/Briefingpapers/migration_trends/failed_asylum_seekers.asp|archive-date=23 September 2007}} In a briefing paper published in January 2009, the group's Honorary Legal Adviser Harry Mitchell, QC stated that while the group supported "asylum for genuine claimants", the "overwhelming majority of asylum seekers" were in fact economic migrants and did not have a "well-founded fear of persecution".

In July 2010, MigrationWatch highlighted what it saw as the potential consequences of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom's unanimous ruling in favour of two homosexual asylum seekers from Iran and Cameroon, allowing them to stay in the UK. The group argued that the decision would "increase by many thousands the numbers of persons who may be eligible for asylum", as well as "generate a large number of claims that will be difficult to determine", such as instances where people smugglers "tell their clients who come from countries where homosexual acts are illegal to claim that they are homosexual". It argued that assessing such claims "can often take many months during which applicants are supported by public funds".{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefingPaper/document/192|title=Homosexuals and asylum|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|date=July 2010|accessdate=11 April 2012}}{{cite news|author1=Alan Travis |author2=Afua Hirsch |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/07/gay-refugees-asylum-seekers |title=Judges: gay refugees must get asylum |work=The Guardian |accessdate=14 January 2020}}

In August 2016, in response to Home Office data showing that over a third of asylum applications were made by migrants who entered the UK illegally or overstayed their visas, MigrationWatch suggested that the data showed that "many of those claiming asylum were in fact economic migrants".{{cite news|author=Sophie Jamieson |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/14/third-of-asylum-claims-come-from-illegal-migrants-and-visa-overs/ |title=Third of asylum claims come from illegal migrants and visa overstayers |newspaper=The Telegraph |publisher=Telegraph.co.uk |date=15 August 2016 |accessdate=28 January 2020}}

The group has defended the use of the term "illegal immigrant" to describe those who enter a country for the purpose of claiming asylum, against those who associate the term with criminality. The group argues that the term is appropriate, as those who come into a country without permission and outside the law are doing so illegally.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34061097 |title=The battle over the words used to describe migrants |work=BBC News |date=28 August 2015 |accessdate=28 January 2020}}

MigrationWatch has argued that, while limited skilled migration (in both directions) is a natural and beneficial feature of an open economy,{{Cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/Briefingpapers/economic/Migrants_economic_benefit.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724095351/http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/Briefingpapers/economic/Migrants_economic_benefit.asp|title=MWUK - Migrants - Do they bring economic benefit?|archive-date=24 July 2008}} very large scale immigration is of little benefit to the indigenous population. MigrationWatch has said that migration into the UK has and will tend to hold down the real wages of British citizens.{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/2005/03/19/tepnimm07.xml|title= Government 'got it wrong' on immigration|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=7 March 2005 | location=London | first1=Philip | last1=Johnston | accessdate=12 May 2010}} In 2006 it expressed concern that immigration from Eastern Europe was depressing wages.{{cite news|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/papers/p_DailyMail_10feb_06.asp|title=Yes, we love Polish plumbers, but how many MORE does Britain need?|work=Migration Watch|date=10 February 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014014529/http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/papers/p_DailyMail_10feb_06.asp|archive-date=14 October 2007}}

In December 2008, a MigrationWatch report stated that while some immigration results in an increase in the number of people in employment, "it seems an inescapable conclusion that the sudden arrival of a very large number of very capable workers willing to work for low pay has had a negative impact on the employment of British-born workers at the bottom of the pay scale".{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/briefingPaper/document/32|title=Impact of immigration on employment of British born|date=15 December 2008|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|accessdate=13 December 2009}} Will Somerville and Madeleine Sumption of the Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute state in an Equality and Human Rights Commission report that: "Few serious international or UK economists would agree with this conclusion".{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/Immigration-and-the-Labour-Market.pdf|title=Immigration and the labour market: Theory, evidence and policy|last=Somerville|first=Will|author2=Sumption, Madeleine|publisher=Equality and Human Rights Commission|page=45|date=March 2009|accessdate=13 December 2009}} Their report did, however, note that "the recent migration may have reduced wages slightly at the bottom end of the labour market, especially for certain groups of vulnerable workers".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jan/17/eastern-european-immigration-hits-wages|title=Eastern European immigration 'has hit low-paid Britons'|last=Doward|first=Jamie|date=17 January 2010|work=The Observer|accessdate=13 March 2010 | location=London}}

MigrationWatch has criticised sectors that lobby for a permissive immigration policy, accusing them of offering "low paying jobs with poor conditions and little flexibility for workers".{{cite web|url=http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/perspectives/15-million-brits-unemployed-does-construction-need/ |title=With 1.5 million Brits unemployed, does construction need EU workers?|work=Globalconstructionreview.com |date=6 October 2017|accessdate=28 January 2020}}

In 2014, the group published a report on population growth in London, in which it said that immigration trends had put "massive pressure on schools and hospitals and especially housing".{{cite web|last=Barrett |first=David |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11162778/Immigration-causing-pressure-on-housing-in-London-claims-report.html |title=Immigration causing 'pressure on housing' in London, claims report |work=The Daily Telegraph |accessdate=28 January 2020}} It has expressed concerns about the effects of migration rates on the national housing market as a whole, pointing to the discrepancy between migration rates and the number of new houses being built to accommodate a growing population.{{cite web|author=Kalyeena Makortoff |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/16/refugees-to-trigger-german-house-price-spike-postbank.html |title=Refugees to trigger German house price spike: Postbank |work=Cnbc.com |date=16 March 2016 |accessdate=28 January 2020}}{{cite news |last=Swinford |first=Steven |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/12032152/new-homes-housing-crisis-migrants.html |title=Half of new homes needed to cope with migrant influx |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=4 December 2015 |accessdate=28 January 2020}} In 2017 the group said that the impact of immigration on future demand for homes in England had been "seriously understated" by the British government.{{cite news|url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/impact-immigration-future-housing-needs-13902385|title=Impact of immigration on future housing needs 'seriously understated'|first=James|last=Rodger|date=15 November 2017|work=Birmingham Mail}}

In 2016, MigrationWatch issued a paper estimating the fiscal impact of immigration for the year 2014/15, which found an overall fiscal cost from immigration with a positive contribution only from migrants of pre-2004 EU states.{{cite web|last=Markaki |first=Yvonni |url=https://fullfact.org/immigration/how-immigrants-affect-public-finances/ |title=How immigrants affect public finances |publisher=Full Fact |date=5 June 2017 |accessdate=14 January 2020}}{{cite web|author=Lord Andrew Green |url=https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefing-paper/381 |title=MW381 : The Fiscal Effects of Immigration to the UK 2014/15 |publisher=Migration Watch UK |accessdate=14 January 2020}} This was in line with a 2014 study from University College London.{{Cite journal |last1=Dustmann |first1=Christian |last2=Frattini |first2=Tommaso |date=1 November 2014 |title=The Fiscal Effects of Immigration to the UK |url=https://academic.oup.com/ej/article/124/580/F593-F643/5076967 |journal=The Economic Journal |language=en |volume=124 |issue=580 |pages=F593–F643 |doi=10.1111/ecoj.12181 |s2cid=738087 |issn=0013-0133|hdl=10419/295456 |hdl-access=free }}

MigrationWatch UK in 2003 advocated that the UK government should "'cut loose from the straitjacket' imposed by its obligations under various conventions that made it impossible to operate the system in the country's best interests".{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1437085/Demand-for-new-laws-on-refugees.html|title= Demand for new laws on refugees|first=Philip|last=Johnston|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=25 July 2003 | location=London | accessdate=5 April 2013}} In 2007 it called for the British government to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and write its own Human Rights Act.{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefingPaper/document/76|title=Revision of the Human Rights Act|date=1 July 2007|work=Briefing Paper 8.17|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|accessdate=4 April 2010}}

The group has been critical of large-scale migration from the European Union, having in 2013 predicted combined migration inflows from Romania and Bulgaria of approximately 50,000 per annum when free movement restrictions would be lifted the following year.{{cite news|author=Danny Shaw |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21039087 |title=Migration Watch warning on Romania and Bulgaria immigration |work=BBC News |date=17 January 2013 |accessdate=21 November 2019}}

In January 2016, the group published a report claiming that the UK leaving the European Union could result in a reduction of annual net migration from 180,000 to around 65,000, although added that such a number should not be taken as a "precise estimate" but was "intended to illustrate the scale of the potential reduction under the policy outlined".{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/migration-watch-uk-claim-that-leaving-eu-would-cut-net-migration-by-100000-a-year-dismissed-as-a6836106.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220514/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/migration-watch-uk-claim-that-leaving-eu-would-cut-net-migration-by-100000-a-year-dismissed-as-a6836106.html |archive-date=14 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Migration Watch UK claim that leaving EU would cut net migration by 100,000 a year dismissed as 'disingenuous'|first=Lizzie|last=Dearden|work=The Independent|date=27 January 2016|accessdate=1 May 2016}} MigrationWatch stated that they would not take a position on the UK's EU membership referendum held in June 2016.{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/eu-referendum|title=The EU Referendum: Immigration Issues|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|date=27 April 2016|accessdate=1 May 2016|archive-date=25 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425170546/http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/eu-referendum|url-status=dead}} In 2017 the group backed the idea of visa-free travel between the UK and EU after Brexit, adding that EU citizens who would want to work in the UK should need a work permit.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-39122835/migration-watch-backs-visa-free-travel-for-eu-after-brexit |title=Migration Watch backs visa-free travel for EU after Brexit |work=BBC News |date=28 February 2017 |accessdate=14 January 2020}}

After the British government reacted to the Hong Kong national security law, announcing that British National (Overseas) passport holders in Hong Kong would be given the right to live, study and work in the UK and would be offered a route to route to citizenship, MigrationWatch published a paper stating that "a Home Office factsheet confirmed that the number who might eventually be able to come is up to 2.9 million – the current number of BNOs residing in Hong Kong". The paper argued that the government had "cast the proposed offer of a pathway to citizenship as part and parcel with the UK honouring its 'historical responsibilities'", suggesting that this set a dangerous precedent. Chris Whitehouse, responding to the MigrationWatch paper in an article for CapX, argued that "the UK's historic duty towards Hong Kong is very different to other former colonies; and the future of Hongkongers is based on China keeping its word, which it is brazenly failing to do". He concluded that "Lord Andrew Green and Migration Watch are out of step with the nation on this one, and they should urgently consult Lord Patten on their route ahead if they are not to lose their way".{{cite news|url=https://capx.co/migration-watch-is-scaremongering-about-hong-kong-immigration/|title=Migration Watch is scaremongering about Hong Kong immigration|publisher=CapX|first=Chris|last=Whitehouse|date=15 June 2020|accessdate=19 July 2020}}

Conservative politician Jonathan Aitken has credited MigrationWatch with improving the quality of the British debate on immigration. He argues that "Migrationwatch has changed the administrative practices of the civil service and the policies of the major political parties on asylum seekers, work permit criteria and numerical totals. It has introduced integrity and accuracy into the previously misleading government statistics on immigration. The level of understanding of the subject in all serious newspapers and broadcasting organizations has been improved. Britain may or may not have the right answers to immigration questions, but we certainly now have a far more informed debate on them".

Similarly, an article by Dean Godson of the centre-right think tank{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1564854/The-Rights-100-Most-Influential-50-26.html|title=The right's 100 most influential: 50-26|date=2 October 2007|work=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=6 January 2010 | location=London}} Policy Exchange published in The Times in June 2006 states: "The dramatic change in the terms of the immigration debate over recent months is largely down to the determination and courage of a single individual – Sir Andrew Green, the founder and chairman of MigrationWatch UK. Almost single-handedly, he has rescued the national discourse from the twin inanities of saloon-bar bigotry on the Right and politically correct McCarthyism on the Left".

Jay Rayner, writing in The Observer quotes one senior BBC News executive, who stated: "We probably were reluctant and slow to take him seriously to begin with. We probably didn't like what he had to say. But then we were also slow to pick up on immigration as a story, not least because we are a very middle-class organisation and the impact of mass immigration was being felt more in working-class communities. If he's proved himself, it's because he hasn't put a foot wrong on the information he's published".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/jan/07/immigration.immigrationandpublicservices|title=Master of the numbers game|last=Rayner|first=Jay|date=7 January 2007|work=The Observer|accessdate=29 December 2009 | location=London}}

Peter Oborne, writing as chief political commentator of the Daily Telegraph, has also praised MigrationWatch and the efforts of Lord Green. In 2014 Oborne called Green "one of the most morally courageous people in British public life", and has said that the "liberal media establishment" owe Green "a huge apology" for mocking his predictions about future immigration numbers.

While the group describes itself as independent and non-political,{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/|title=MigrationWatch UK|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|accessdate=28 October 2009}}{{cite web|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/whoWeAre|title=Who we are|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|date=April 2009|accessdate=28 October 2009}} it has been characterised as a right-wing lobby or pressure group by some commentators{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/mar/21/themarsbarhasa|title=The numbers game|last=Pallister|first=David|date=21 March 2007|work=The Guardian|accessdate=28 October 2009 | location=London}} and academics.{{cite journal|last=Boswell|first=Christina|year=2009|title=Knowledge, legitimation and the politics of risk: The functions of research in public debates on migration|journal=Political Studies|volume=57|issue=1|pages=165–186|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00729.x |hdl=20.500.11820/a9b6f53a-dbd5-4f8d-b2de-131715ee44c9|s2cid=145075478|url=https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/9163787/BOSWELL_2009_Kowledge_ligitimation_and_politics_of_risk.pdf}}{{cite book|last=Hampshire|first=James|title=Immigration Policy and Security: US, European, and Commonwealth Perspectives|editor=Givens, Terri E. |editor2=Freeman, Gary P. |editor3=Leal, David L.|publisher=Routledge|location=London|year=2008|pages=109–129 [119]|chapter=Disembedding liberalism? Immigration politics and security in Britain since 9/11|isbn=978-0-415-99083-7|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHWPALMDBDkC&q=migrationwatch%20anti-immigration&pg=PA119}}{{cite journal|last=De Zoysa|first=Richard|year=2006|title=Immigration: Europe and the USA – common cause or American exceptionalism?|journal=Contemporary Politics|volume=12|issue=3–4|pages=261–285|doi=10.1080/13569770601086188|s2cid=154004571}}{{cite journal|last=Threadgold|first=Terry|year=2006|title=Dialogism, voice and global contexts: Asylum, dangerous men and invisible women|journal=Australian Feminist Studies|volume=21|issue=50|pages=223–244|doi=10.1080/08164640600731762|s2cid=143835710}}

It has been argued that MigrationWatch's messages "can be taken advantage of by people with Islamophobia and prejudice".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/04/immigration.immigrationandpublicservices|title=A great ambassador – with worrying views|last=MacAskill|first=Ewen|date=4 November 2005|work=The Guardian|accessdate=12 December 2009 | location=London}} The accuracy of the group's research has also been questioned. David Robinson, Professor of Housing and Public Policy at Sheffield Hallam University, argues that the group's assertion that immigrants are placing strain on social housing lacks evidence.{{cite journal|last=Robinson|first=David|year=2010|title=New immigrants and migrants in social housing in Britain: Discursive themes and lived realities|journal=Policy & Politics|volume=38|issue=1|pages=57–77|url=http://learning.chs.ac.uk/file.php/1/New_immigrants-_Migrants_in_socia_housing_in_Britain.pdf|doi=10.1332/030557309X458407|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819221427/http://learning.chs.ac.uk/file.php/1/New_immigrants-_Migrants_in_socia_housing_in_Britain.pdf|archive-date=19 August 2011}} Economist Philippe Legrain has claimed that "MigrationWatch's xenophobic prejudice is causing it to twist the truth" about the impact of immigration on the employment prospects of British people.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/dec/16/immigration-uk-jobs-andrew-green|title=MigrationWatch is twisting the truth|last=Legrain|first=Philippe|date=16 December 2008|work=The Guardian|accessdate=29 December 2009 | location=London}}

In February 2013, Migration Matters, an organisation chaired by former Labour MP Barbara Roche and co-chaired by then-Conservative MP Gavin Barwell, criticised the BBC for treating MigrationWatch's analysis as politically neutral.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/feb/27/bbc-immigration-campaign-group-neutral|title=BBC criticised for treating immigration campaign group as 'neutral analysts'|first=Matthew|last=Taylor|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=27 February 2013|accessdate=5 April 2013}}

In 2014, Jonathan Portes of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research complained to the Press Complaints Commission that articles in the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph about the net amount of tax paid by Eastern European migrants, which were based on MigrationWatch statistics, were inaccurate. The two newspapers amended the articles in response.{{cite web|url=http://www.pcc.org.uk/news/index.html?article=ODk0Ng==|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140702104921/http://www.pcc.org.uk/news/index.html?article=ODk0Ng==|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 July 2014|title=Jonathan Portes|publisher=Press Complaints Commission|date=30 May 2014|accessdate=1 July 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pcc.org.uk/news/index.html?article=ODk0OQ==|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140702104924/http://www.pcc.org.uk/news/index.html?article=ODk0OQ==|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 July 2014|title=Jonathan Portes|publisher=Press Complaints Commission|date=5 June 2014|accessdate=1 July 2014}}

Some other commentators have criticised what they see as the media uncritically reproducing the findings of MigrationWatch in their own reporting. Academics Nissa Finney and Ludi Simpson in 2009 stated that while they believed the evidence used by MigrationWatch to be questionable, it received prominence in migration debates and had assumed an authority which they considered to be "dangerous if there is no similar authority presenting counterarguments".{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zfr6aKp6p0wC|title='Sleepwalking to Segregation'? Challenging Myths about Race and Migration|first1=Nissa|last1=Finney|first2=Ludi|last2=Simpson|year=2009|location=Bristol|publisher=Policy Press|isbn=978-1-84742-007-7|page=63}} Bernhard Gross, Kerry Moore and Terry Threadgold of the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University have criticised the broadcast media's use of MigrationWatch to 'balance' reports on immigration, arguing that the "whole idea of 'balance' in these contexts needs to be re-thought" and that "there are never just two sides to any story".{{cite web|url=http://orca.cf.ac.uk/53007/|title=Broadcast News Coverage of Asylum April to October 2006: Caught Between Human Rights and Public Safety|last=Gross|first=Bernhard|author2=Moore, Kerry |author3=Threadgold, Terry |year=2007|publisher=Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies|page=14|accessdate=28 December 2009}}

In 2007, the Daily Mirror paid damages to Andrew Green after columnist Brian Reade likened him and the group to the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Party, which the paper admitted was "untrue".{{cite news|title=Sir Andrew Green - an apology|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sir-andrew-green---an-apology-523654|work=Daily Mirror|date=26 November 2007}}{{cite web|author=Stephen Brook |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/nov/26/mirror.medialaw |title=Mirror pays out over Migrationwatch slur | Media |work=The Guardian |date=26 November 2007 |accessdate=27 January 2020}}

In August 2010, Sally Bercow, a Labour Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate and wife of Conservative MP John Bercow, argued on a Sky News newspaper review that a Daily Express article based on MigrationWatch research was "oversimplifying" and constituted "dangerous propaganda". As a result, MigrationWatch and Andrew Green threatened to take libel action against Bercow.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/oct/01/sally-bercow-migration-watch|title=Sally Bercow threatened with libel over migration comments|first=Jason|last=Deans|work=The Guardian|date=1 October 2010|accessdate=20 December 2010}} After she instructed the lawyer David Allen Green to defend the threatened action, MigrationWatch dropped its threat.{{cite web|url=http://www.thelawyer.com/migrationwatch-drops-sally-bercow-libel-threat/1005702.article|title=Migrationwatch drops Sally Bercow libel threat|last=Dowell|first=Katy|date=7 October 2010|work=The Lawyer|accessdate=20 December 2010}} According to a MigrationWatch press release, in the light of an assurance by her lawyer that Mrs Bercow "did not intend to (and did not) allege that Migrationwatch is a fascist or racist organisation", the organisation decided not to take the matter further.{{cite news|url=http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/pressReleases/01-October-2010#248|title=Mrs Bercow and Migrationwatch|publisher=MigrationWatch UK|date=7 October 2010|accessdate=15 February 2011}}

• Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom
• Immigration to the United Kingdom since 1922
• Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/ Official website]
• [https://twitter.com/migrationwatch MigrationWatch UK Twitter]
• [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKghXUGgSjr42QqfXu7RA5g/videos MigrationWatch UK YouTube]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Migrationwatch Uk}}

Category:Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom

Category:Immigration to the United Kingdom

Category:2001 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Think tanks established in 2001

Category:Anti-immigration politics in the United Kingdom