MPs urge population growth limit

Jan 6 2010

A cross-party parliamentary group has called on all the major parties to make a commitment in their manifestos for this year's general election not to allow the UK's population to reach 70 million.

The Cross-Party Group on Balanced Migration said that political commitment to reduce net immigration to the levels of the early 1990s - around 40,000, compared to 163,000 in 2008 - was the first step towards avoiding reaching the 70 million figure by 2029.

The group's Declaration on Population, entitled "70 million is too many" was signed by 19 parliamentarians, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, former Commons Speaker Baroness Boothroyd, five Labour MPs and peers, 10 Conservatives and two crossbenchers.

The declaration warned that the current scale of immigration is "unprecedented" and said that failure to stem it "would be seriously damaging to the future harmony of our society".

It accused the major political parties of failing to address intense public concern over the issue, and warned that their silence has provided an opportunity for the far-right British National Party.

"Nearly a million votes by our fellow citizens for an extremist party amount to a danger sign which must not be ignored," said the parliamentarians.

"For too long the major political parties have failed to address these issues and the intense, if largely private, concern that they generate throughout our country. If politicians want to rebuild the public's trust in the political system, they cannot continue to ignore this issue which matters so much to so many people. The time has come for action."

The declaration noted official projections suggesting the population of the UK is on track to increase from 61.4 million in 2008 to more than 70 million by 2029 - with nearly all of the increase coming in England. It warned that immigration on such a scale "will have a significant impact on our public services, our quality of life and on the nature of our society".

The signatories acknowledged that returning to immigration levels of two decades ago "will not be easy to achieve" and could take several years.

But they argued: "The first requirement is a clear political decision to put in hand the measures required to restore control over our borders, to break the present almost automatic link between coming to Britain and later gaining citizenship, and thus take a range of further measures to limit the growth in our population."