ARE ASYLUM SEEKERS AND MIGRANTS SWAMPING THE UK?
An opinion poll last year showed the public overestimates the number of asylum-seekers in the UK by a factor of 10 – which means people think there are 1000% more asylum seekers in Britain than are really here. After years of anti-asylum press stories, British people believe on average that the UK has 23 per cent of the world’s refugees. The real figure is below 2%. ARE IMMIGRANTS DRAINING BRITAIN’S RESOURCES? The Government’s own figures show that migrants and refugees make a huge overall contribution to national wealth. They made a net contribution of around £2.5 billion to income tax in 1999-2000. This means they bring in £800 million a year more than the cost of running the entire asylum and immigration system. ARE ASYLUM SEEKERS JUST ON THE MAKE? ARE THEY MAINLY BOGUS? If so, they’d come from any poor country, not just ones where there is war and persecution. But the countries asylum seekers come from closely follows the pattern of wars, conflicts and repression around the world.
