THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The Government has rowed back on a promise to cap immigrant numbers amid accusations that the pledge amounted to little more than spin.
Two days after he appeared to sign up to a cap on the number of overseas workers welcomed into the UK, Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, admitted that no fresh measures were planned, and said he had been referring to existing schemes.
Mr Woolas insisted that he had long been concerned about the immigration figures numbers, and suggested that there was no need for a cap because the Government's new points-based system would cut the number of in-comers to an appropriate level.
He said: "The accusations against me are deeply hurtful. This is an issue that I have been passionately involved in all of my adult life.
"It is the reason why I got involved in politics, to tackle racial discrimination and to help people who are immigrants.
"But we can only do that if the public are reassured that we have got a tough immigration policy and it is implemented.
"That is what I think most upsets and annoys people, that they see laws that are not implemented. The Prime Minister has asked me to do that and that's what I am going to do.
"We are going to be tough in implementing these policies. It is very important that the public are reassured that the authorities, including the Government, know who is coming into our country and who is leaving it.
"My job is to be as tough as we can, implement that whilst at the same time changing the regime for people who earn citizenship to our country to help them to help themselves more than we have done in the past. So if you like, it is a tough and tender policy."
Mr Woolas' words contrasted with a newspaper interview he gave last week, in which he used far tougher language to describe his attitude to immigration. He said: "It's been too easy to get into this country in the past and it's going to get harder.
"There has to be a balance between the number of people coming in and the number of people leaving." >>> By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | October 19, 2008
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