Has the UK statistics authority come back to haunt Labour?
As the Office for National Statistics published yesterday's unemployment figures, the breakdown which accompanied the overall report has caused something of a stir across the UK. Figures from the ONS (regulated by the UK statistics authority) showed that employment of British workers was reduced by 250,000 over the last 12 months but the number of foreign workers in the UK has gone up by 200,000. This blows wide open the UK government's claim of a fair immigration policy and a level playing field for foreign workers and UK workers.
There is now severe pressure on the UK authorities to clarify how in effect 200,000 "British jobs" have been taken by foreign employees at a time when Gordon Brown was promising "British jobs for British workers". Gordon Brown has been under pressure for some time although the claim, or promise, of "British jobs are British workers" could well be the straw that broke the camel's back. Since the wildcat strikes just a couple of weeks ago the true picture of UK immigration and UK migrant workers has come to the surface. When you also consider that many foreign workers coming to the UK are also able to claim benefits, such as child allowance and housing benefit for their families back "home", the situation has become a serious mess.
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