THE TELEGRAPH: Labour had made a string of failures in its management of the migration system, the new immigration minister has admitted.
Just days after sparking a row by apparently calling for a cap on the number of immigrants coming to the country, Phil Woolas said the Government had implemented policies that had damaged both those moving to the country and the existing population.
He said too much money had been spent on translating signs and documents into other languages and not enough on teaching migrants to learn English, leading to segregated communities.
Mr Woolas, who only began his new brief two weeks ago, suggested ministers had wrongly shied away from demanding that people coming to Britain speak the language, and accused the country of having an "old world" attitude.
He also criticised Labour's failure to fund asylum removals properly which he said had caused "untold human misery and division".
But last night he was forced to make another embarrassing "clarification" of his latest remarks.
He insisted the Government was now making progress but conceded that UK policy on immigration was lagging a decade behind that of other countries.
It is estimated that 2.3 million people have moved to Britain since Labour came to power, 84 per cent of them from outside Europe, and a further 7 million are expected by 2031, putting pressure on housing, transport and public services.
Mr Woolas's latest outspoken comments come after he appeared to agree that there should be a limit on the number of people moving to the country from overseas in an interview on Saturday. >>> By Martin Beckford, Social Affairs Correspondent | October 20, 2008
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