Tag: Immigration

Dilemma for Cameron as Merkel appears to reserve free movement

07:26 Monday 3rd November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: It looks like life has just got a bit tougher for David Cameron this morning, when it comes to his plans to try and renegotiate the rules for Britain in the EU. Reports coming from Germany claim its Chancellor Angela Merkel is warning the Prime Minister that his drive to curb immigration is pushing Britain towards leaving the EU. Angela Merkel is quoted as saying she’s prefer the UK to leave the EU completely rather than compromise the free movement of workers. Let’s get more on this from our reporter Gavin Lee. Talk us through Gavin what Angela Merkel appears to be saying here.
Continue reading “Dilemma for Cameron as Merkel appears to reserve free movement”

Tuberculosis Outbreak in Chatteris

08:07 Tuesday 25th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: People in Chatteris say they’ve been kept in the dark over an outbreak of tuberculosis at two vegetable processing plants in the town. Health Protection England has sought to play down fears, after confirming 17 workers have been diagnosed with the deadly illness since 2012. But earlier Chatteris town councillor Florence Newell told us she was absolutely livid about the lack of information.
(TAPE)
FLORENCE NEWELL: This has been going on since 2012 in Chatteris, and neither the Town Council nor the District Council were informed. We should have known. If this has been going on since 2012, and they’re people that are working in factories in Chatteris, we should have known.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well we stopped routinely immunising children against tuberculosis in 2005, and according to the last recent figures there were 88 cases of TB in Cambridgeshire in 2011. There were a total of 521 across the whole region. But a lot of you are very unhappy this morning and very worried. Cases are on the increase. So are people in Chatteris right to be so concerned? Well Dr Estée Török is a consultant in infectious diseases at Addenbrookes Hospital. Morning.
ESTEE TOROK: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: First of all, why is TB on the increase?
ESTEE TOROK: Well, in the United Kingdom we have about nearly 9,000 cases of TB reported every year, and it has been gradually increasing over the last few years. The reason for that really is that most of the people who develop TB have been born abroad. And as you know we have more people who have been born abroad who are living in the United Kingdom than we used to. And so it may well be related to that.
PAUL STAINTON: So it’s immigration that’s exacerbating the problem.
ESTEE TOROK: It may well be. Yes. So a lot of these people may have acquired TB in childhood when they lived at home, and then they’re obviously presenting in adulthood when they’re living and working in the United Kingdom.
Continue reading “Tuberculosis Outbreak in Chatteris”

A Really Hostile Environment

17:23 Thursday 10th October 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Illegal immigrants are to be denied bank accounts, stripped of driving licences, and stopped from renting, in a crackdown to drive them out of Britain. The Home Secretary Theresa May says it’s about creating a really hostile environment for those who shouldn’t be here. But what impact could it have on everyone else? It’s been said that if people are here illegally, life should be made difficult for them, and they should be forced to leave. Our political reporter Robin Crystal has more.
(TAPE)
ROBIN CRYSTAL: That is certainly the view of the Home Secretary Theresa May, and she thinks this is firmly in line with public opinion.
THERESA MAY: This is about a point of principle. I think if you’re out there and you’re working hard, you’re contributing, you’re paying in to the system, you do question whether people should be able to come into the UK and access the system without paying in. And that’s why most people are saying look it’s not fair. And we need to do something about this.
ROBIN CRYSTAL: And if you look at opinion polls, consistently immigration, concern about immigration, and here of course we’re talking about illegal immigration, comes very high. It’s often second, ahead of concern about housing, health and education. For many people, it’s only the economy which is more of a concern.
CHRIS MANN: So, what’s going to change, according to these proposals?
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BBC In Peterborough Again Featuring Marco Cereste On Immigration

In the run-up to the local elections the BBC’s Nick Robinson visits Peterborough, for reasons best known to the Beeb, and advises residents to get over their insularity, and any lingering objections they may have to the loss of their status as an English market town. Continue reading “BBC In Peterborough Again Featuring Marco Cereste On Immigration”

Peterborough Performing Well Despite Record Jobless Totals

07:20 Thursday 21st March 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Unemployment has reached a record high in Peterborough, 5.6%, well above the national average. That’s according to the latest figure from the Office of National Statistics, which show that nearly 400 more people were receiving JobSeekers’ Allowance in February than in January. Meanwhile in Cambridgeshire only 2.2% of the workforce are receiving the benefit. Well let’s speak to John Bridge, Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce. Morning John.
JOHN BRIDGE: Yes good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: This is very high, isn’t it?
JOHN BRIDGE: It is, and it is always disappointing when we see the level of JobSeeker Allowance people going up.
PAUL STAINTON: Why so much higher in Peterborough than elsewhere across Cambridgeshire? Continue reading “Peterborough Performing Well Despite Record Jobless Totals”

Core Voters Against Mass Immigration

07:19 Wednesday 23rd January 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Two murders in the space of a week in a Fenland town, and residents in Wisbech say they’re living in a climate of fear.
(TAPE)(VOXPOP)
LOCAL ONE: I’m a little bit jittery, I must admit. You expect a lot of these things in Wisbech now unfortunately, but it is a bit of a worry. You lock your doors now, where you didn’t do before. You just watch out for each other, but beyond that, what can you do? You look over your back all the time now. That’s the way you feel. You’re always looking behind you.
LOCAL TWO: I think the murder situation in Wisbech is absolutely vile. And there is a lot of concern for the older people in Wisbech. Once you get to a certain age you want to feel secure in your own home, don’t you?
LOCAL THREE: Terrible. My relations all live down in London, and they’re always on about what happens in Wisbech. What a terrible place to live, all these murders and that, carrying on.
LOCAL FOUR: Frightened. And not only that, we’ve been here twelve years now, and the way of life here has changed so much, with all this immigration and that. There’s ten to every one of us with the sounds here. Every time you go shopping, or anywhere like that, there’s old ladies, English ladies crying because they can’t relate to it all. It’s too much for them. I’m not a racist or anything like that, but they’ve put too many in this one town. I don’t know why they’ve done this.
PAUL STAINTON: That gentleman touched on a bit of a taboo subject there, didn’t he, immigration? Is that something we need to be talking about?

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Immigration And The Housing Shortage

17:41 Friday 18th January 2013
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: According to the Peterborough Conservative MP Stewart Jackson, the Government isn’t doing enough to prepare for the arrival of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania next year. It’s after MigrationWatch released figures suggesting up to 50,000 people could come here next year, when they get the right of free movement across the EU. The Communities Secretary Eric Pickles admitted that more migrants would have an impact on social and affordable homes. So we thought we’d try and shed some light on this, and find out what effect migration has already had on housing in Cambridgeshire. (TAPE)
ERIC PICKLES: The truth is I don’t think anybody entirely knows the number that are going to come from Bulgaria and from Romania. Given that we’ve got a housing shortage, any influx is going to cause problems, not just in terms of the housing market, but also on social housing markets. Continue reading “Immigration And The Housing Shortage”

Richard Howitt and Stewart Jackson on Immigration and the EU Budget

07:00 – 09:00 1 November 2012
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

07:10

PAUL STAINTON: Last night David Cameron got something of a bloody nose in the House of Commons. He was defeated in a vote over Europe. MPs voted by a majority of 13 in favour of a rebel Tory call for a cut in the European budget .. Let’s speak to the MEP for the Eastern Region, Labour’s Richard Howitt .. There’s a perception though isn’t there that it’s just a massive gravy train, and that you know there’s expenses here and there, there’s people earning absolute fortunes for not doing very much at all.
RICHARD HOWITT: Well those feelings are because that type of language is used in the media.
PAUL STAINTON: So it’s the media’s fault, is it? Continue reading “Richard Howitt and Stewart Jackson on Immigration and the EU Budget”