'Migrant tax' gets go-ahead
Thursday, March 19 07:25 am
Economic migrants and students coming to the UK from outside the EU will have to pay a £50 levy towards the costs of the public services.
Related photos / videos
'Migrant tax' gets go-ahead
But the £70 million which it is expected the "migrant tax" will raise over the next two years was dismissed by a pressure group as "a drop in the ocean" compared to the sums of taxpayers' money spent on them.
And the left-of-centre thinktank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, warned the Government that it risked fuelling anti-migrant sentiments by suggesting that immigrants place strains on schools, the police and the NHS.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced the new charge will come into effect later this year to pay for the Migration Impacts Fund, to be distributed to different areas depending on how many migrants they attract.
Ms Blears, who was addressing a conference on migration being hosted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in London, said that the long-term benefit to the UK from migration is "significant" and will play a vital role in the country's recovery from recession.
But she acknowledged that migration can impose short-term pressures on local public services including councils, schools, the NHS and police.
The new fund could be used to pay for extra teachers in schools in areas with high migrant numbers, targeted support for policing, English language lessons for migrants or measures to increase GP registration, she said.
But Migrationwatch UK, which campaigns for lower migration, said that the fund would raise only 7p for every pound spent by the authorities on schemes to help immigrants, which the pressure group estimated at more than £500 million a year.
"Our population will hit 70 million in 20 years. Seventy per cent of the increase will be thanks to immigration: this new tax will not begin to foot the bill that this population increase will present to British taxpayers," Migrationwatch UK chairman Sir Andrew Green said.
Thursday, March 19 07:25 am
Economic migrants and students coming to the UK from outside the EU will have to pay a £50 levy towards the costs of the public services.
Related photos / videos
'Migrant tax' gets go-ahead
But the £70 million which it is expected the "migrant tax" will raise over the next two years was dismissed by a pressure group as "a drop in the ocean" compared to the sums of taxpayers' money spent on them.
And the left-of-centre thinktank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, warned the Government that it risked fuelling anti-migrant sentiments by suggesting that immigrants place strains on schools, the police and the NHS.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced the new charge will come into effect later this year to pay for the Migration Impacts Fund, to be distributed to different areas depending on how many migrants they attract.
Ms Blears, who was addressing a conference on migration being hosted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in London, said that the long-term benefit to the UK from migration is "significant" and will play a vital role in the country's recovery from recession.
But she acknowledged that migration can impose short-term pressures on local public services including councils, schools, the NHS and police.
The new fund could be used to pay for extra teachers in schools in areas with high migrant numbers, targeted support for policing, English language lessons for migrants or measures to increase GP registration, she said.
But Migrationwatch UK, which campaigns for lower migration, said that the fund would raise only 7p for every pound spent by the authorities on schemes to help immigrants, which the pressure group estimated at more than £500 million a year.
"Our population will hit 70 million in 20 years. Seventy per cent of the increase will be thanks to immigration: this new tax will not begin to foot the bill that this population increase will present to British taxpayers," Migrationwatch UK chairman Sir Andrew Green said.
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