British National Party UK Immigration News Bulletin w/c February 19, 2007
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1. LABOUR HOUSING POLICY DRIVING VOTERS TO BNP - LABOUR MP

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=436858&in_page_id=1770

Labour has been accused of neglecting its core supporters by 'racialising' housing policy and letting immigrants take over cheap homes. The claim by Labour deputy leadership contender Jon Cruddas threatens to cause a major row in the party by reviving fears that a lack of affordable homes is playing into the hands of British National Party extremists. Left-wing MP Mr Cruddas claims one of the main reasons for the problem is the flood of new arrivals who have taken over cheap housing stock in cities. This leaves none for families who have lived here for generations. The MP for Dagenham, Essex, who is one of the favourites to succeed John Prescott, said Britain faced an economic and social crisis because of the huge drop in the number of council houses and other ordinary homes available for rent. Two major causes were the mass sale of council houses and the arrival of huge numbers of immigrants. 'There is a crisis in terms of access to low-cost social housing,' he says in an interview with GMTV's Sunday Programme to be broadcast today. 'It is linked to patterns of demographic change, migration and the lack of supply. 'There is a growing number of people who need council houses. Access to council housing is becoming racialised because of a lack of supply and it is feeding political extremism.'

Mr Cruddas claims that white working-class Labour voters believe immigrants, particularly from Eastern Europe, are taking over low-paid jobs and homes that used to go to local people. He says it is driving traditional Labour voters into the hands of the BNP. Labour strategists fear that in the May elections Far Right parties could take scores of council seats in areas of East London, Lancashire and Yorkshire where ethnic tensions are high. The BNP has recently been performing strongly in local by-elections, coming within a few votes of defeating Labour. Mr Cruddas has already highlighted how immigrants willing to work for low wages are resented by unskilled white workers, who are worried that their own salaries and status will suffer. The former trade union organiser and Downing Street aide has said he will not seek a Cabinet portfolio if he wins the deputy leadership race. Instead the backbencher wants to be the 'shop steward' of the party, communicating the concerns of Labour's grass roots to the leadership. Mr Cruddas's supporters claim he already has enough supporters among MPs to ensure he will make it through to the final vote. His main rivals are likely to be 'Establishment' candidates including Education Secretary Alan Johnson and Ulster Secretary Peter Hain.

2. BULGARIAN GANGS BRING PICKPOCKET CRISIS

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2015746,00.html

Police are blaming gangs of Bulgarian women, drawn to the UK by European Union expansion, for soaring rates of pickpocketing in London. Official crime figures due out in April are expected to show a disturbing rise in pickpocketing offences, especially on the London Underground. Across the capital, there has been a 120 per cent rise in pickpocket crimes in January compared with last year. 'And that is the ones we know about,' said a senior detective. 'We are looking at 250 crimes a week.' The robberies, police say, are mainly being committed by groups of Bulgarian women in their 20s. 'The problem is we can't deport them like Bosnians, because they are part of the European Union. Extra police resources have had to be put in to tackle this problem.' Bulgarian organised crime gangs operate using pairs of women. Recent cases include 24-year-old Eugenyia Bakova, who was jailed for 16 weeks on 17 January for theft, and on 22 January Horseferry magistrates issued a warrant for the arrest of an 18-year-old on pickpocket allegations. Romania and Bulgaria have added 30 million to the EU population and both have jobless rates of up to 10 per cent. The Institute of Public Policy Research estimates that 56,000 Romanians and Bulgarians may arrive in the UK within the first year.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: 'There have been more Eastern Europeans from our arrest profile over the two months. And there has been an 18 per cent increase in passenger property theft over the last two months (December 2006 and January 2007) compared with December 2005 and January 2006.' Of 27 men and women arrested for pickpocketing on the tube in January, 22 were of Eastern European origin. Area commander Paul Crowther said: 'The tube network is covered by CCTV cameras both on stations and trains. BTP has responded to the current increase in thefts by increasing profile patrols and the number of undercover officers on the tube network.' Retired Metropolitan Flying Squad commander John O'Connor said: 'What used to happen was that there was a dedicated squad to fight pickpocketing, but that was disbanded, and there is no central database. Instead it is left to local police, who haven't got the whole picture. There's a lot of police spin and most theft gets reported as lost property to keep numbers down.' Yana Buhrer Tavanier, an editor for the Bulgarian weekly Capital, said: 'In Bulgaria there are cases of pickpocketing, most often committed by Roma women or children, though the numbers have dropped in recent years. Other European countries have also reported cases of pickpocketing by Bulgarian citizens... In 2005 there were around 600 registered cases in Vienna. In 2006 it was reported that as a result of a joint action by Bulgarian and Austrian authorities the numbers have dropped drastically.'

3. ROAD SIGNS IN POLISH 'BONKERS' - TORY MP

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=436334&in_page_id=1770

A council scheme to put up road signs in Polish to stop migrant drivers getting confused has been dismissed as 'bonkers'. Highways chiefs in Cheshire agreed to the move to help Poles who cannot understand English. Signs of madness: The sign in the foreground reads 'DIVERSION A49 for Whitchurch and nearby places' Motorists were left bewildered when the eight yellow signs appeared in country lanes around the Cheshire-Shropshire border to help Poles follow diversions due to roadworks. Engineers said they were necessary to cater for a soaring migrant population in Crewe and Whitchurch, towns flooded by thousands of Eastern Europeans after expansion of the EU in 2004. The publicly-funded scheme has been described as the 'most ludicrous example yet' of political correctness.

Tory MP Philip Davies, a campaigner against political correctness, said: 'It's absolutely bonkers but what worries me is that once one council starts, others follow.' But speaking to Mail online, Neil Anderston, of the Cheshire County Council highways department, defended the use of road signs written in Polish on the A49. 'Eight out of 200 signs used to direct traffic are in Polish. This is a common sense and practical answer to traffic problems caused by polish drivers who don't understand our English signs,' he said. Sign of the times: This Polish road sign translates as 'For A49 to Whitchurch turn right at next junction. The signs went up after police were repeatedly called when migrant motorists, including lorry drivers, were baffled by English signs, causing traffic mayhem. Highways officials called in a Polish translator to get the wording right on the notices, which have been placed next to English equivalents. Resident Paul Walker, 55, said he was staggered when he spotted two of the signs while driving on the A49 in Ridley village, near Tarporley. Translated into English, one reads: 'For A49 Whitchurch turn right at next junction.' The other says: 'Diversion. A49 for Whitchurch and nearby places.'

Father-of-two Mr Walker said: 'I am not racist or against Polish people in any way. But it struck me as the most ludicrous example of political correctness I have ever come across. 'How can anyone justify spending taxpayers' money on something like this?' Another driver, who asked not to be named, added: 'You could be forgiven for wondering whether you were driving deep into Polish countryside, not the middle of Cheshire.' But the senior engineer who came up with the idea defended the move. 'Just a few weeks ago we had to stop work and let some Poles drive through an area we were working on because they could not fathom what was going on,' said Anderton. A spokeswoman for Cheshire County Council told The Daily Express newspaper: 'Polish people are part of the community and we need to cater for their needs.' Even a Polish organisation failed to see the point of the signs. 'It seems very strange and is not something a Polish person living in Britain would expect. I can't imagine why they are needed,' said an official. Earlier this month, Barbara Tuge-Erecinska, the new Polish ambassador to Britain, said there may be as many as 600,000 of her compatriots living in the UK. Twice the Home Office's estimate. If Ms Tuge-Erecinska is correct, Poles are now the third-largest minority ethnic group in the UK, after Pakistanis and Indians.

4. SCHEME TO ATTRACT MORE IMMIGRANTS TO NORTHEAST HITS SNAGS

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/journallive/thejournal/tm_method=full26objectid=1860307826siteid=50081-name_page.html

Moves to attract migrant workers to the North-East were thrown into doubt last night when it emerged some councillors are refusing to trust criminal records checks from eastern Europe. Taxi firm bosses in North Tyneside have been told drivers from Poland and the Czech Republic will not be given licences because of uncertainty over records from their home countries. However, several other North-East councils are willing to licence foreign drivers - and North Tyneside will allow Polish people to work in other jobs based on a British Criminal Records Bureau check. North Tyneside Taxi Organisation secretary Alan Fidler said that if the position on drivers is upheld, it 'must call into question' use of migrant labour in other sectors. It comes after plans were announced for a regional migration strategy to encourage more workers from overseas, including eastern Europe, to settle in the North-East. North Tyneside's stance emerged when an applicant - identified only as Mr K - supplied information from the central criminal records register of the Polish ministry of justice. As he had not been resident in the UK for more than five years, this is needed to make enhanced CRB disclosure valid. However, because of uncertainty about the foreign documentation, he was told a council committee 'could not be satisfied you were a fit and proper person to hold such a licence'. A North Tyneside Council spokeswoman said: 'Our licensing officers are currently researching the position regarding CRB checks in all EU countries to ensure that they are compatible with British CRB checks. 'As soon as that research is completed we will formulate a sensible policy which can be applied consistently and ensures taxi users have the appropriate level of protection.'

The authority insisted cases are dealt with 'on their merits' in the meantime. Applications for other jobs are based purely on CRB checks, in accordance with Government guidance, the council said. But Mr Fidler said: 'If the council's policy is reasonable for taxi drivers, it must call into question the employment of hundreds and thousands of foreign nationals in schools, care homes, etc...' Immigration lawyer Liaquat Latif said: 'It seems a little bit of hypocrisy to accept new European Union countries but not to accept their laws and procedures.' Other North-East authorities do not issue a blanket ban on drivers. Newcastle, Chester-le-Street, Sunderland and Blyth Valley councils each said they would look at foreign records without issuing an automatic `no'. Gateshead said it is 'actively considering the issue' and taking legal advice, but has had no applications yet. An Alnwick Council spokeswoman said: 'It is a problem and does need to be rectified.' A series of crises in recent months have raised concerns over how security checks have been handled on cross-border crime. In December 2005, then Home Secretary Charles Clarke warned the Prime Minister that hundreds of foreign prisoners had been freed from UK jails without the required investigation into whether they should be deported. Five of the criminals convicted of serious offences went on to commit new crimes after their release, including violence and drugs offences.

In May 2006, Mr Clarke's replacement as Home Secretary, John Reid, revealed the numbers released included 186 serious offenders, many of whom are still at large. Last month, a senior Home Office civil servant was suspended over a failure to provide police with details of crimes committed by Britons in Europe. The records that had not been logged included that of Dale Miller, who was jailed for 16 years in 2002 for the manslaughter of gangland rival Freddie Knights, shot on his mother's doorstep in Longbenton in 2000. Migrant workers capable of earning more than the North-East's average wage are needed if the region is to hit its economic targets, a new report said yesterday. Researchers at the North-East Regional Information Partnership (Nerip) were asked to assess the skills gap that needs to be filled by foreign workers. It comes in the wake of talks on a strategy for attracting more migrant labour to the North-East, after the regional economic strategy set a target of shifting GVA - a measure of wealth - from 80% to 90% of the national average by 2016. The Nerip report says: 'The RES target will be more easily achieved if migrants who come into the region are generating higher levels of GVA - which probably implies that they will need to earn higher salaries than the regional average.' However, research shows workers from outside the EU are more likely to work in higher level jobs. At present, employers are largely using migrants from new EU countries in low-skilled work. Skills needed to hit the 90% target, according to the report, include degree-level qualifications in energy, chemicals, financial and business services, health and social care and public services sectors. Also needed would be A-level equivalent qualifications in sectors including hotels and catering.

5. LATVIAN IMMIGRANTS WERE CRIMINALS BACK HOME

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/060207Latvian.htm

Two Latvians who broke into an elderly widow's home and pushed her down the stairs were let into Britain despite being well-known criminals in their home country. Dorothy Hodgson, 74, was lucky to survive the violent late-night burglary, and despite surgery faces being scarred for life as a result of appalling injuries to her face. After her attackers were captured by police, officers discovered that one had served a five-year prison sentence for robbery in Latvia while his accomplice is wanted for assault by the authorities there. But because Latvia is a member of the EU, they were free to settle and work in Britain without having their criminal records scrutinised. To add insult to injury, assault charges against the pair have now been dropped after a judge said it couldn't be established which of them pushed Mrs Hodgson - even though she is adamant she knows and would have been prepared to testify in court. Yesterday she and her family were joined by their local MP in demanding tougher measures against foreign criminals trying to move to Britain. Mrs Hodgson was preparing to go to bed at her home in Brierfield, Lancashire on July 23 last year when she came across two men in her bedroom. 'I slammed the bedroom door to try to trap them but one of them forced his way out and pushed me down the stairs,' she said yesterday. Despite a gashed face she picked up her phone to dial 999, but the man ripped the receiver out of her hand and the pair fled. The blood-covered grandmother had crawl to a neighbour's house and call for help.

At the time a detective on the case said: 'Had the victim been frail and unable to raise the alarm, we may have been dealing with a murder investigation.' Police later arrested Vjaceslavs Skerskans, 29, and Ramunas Budvyatis, 30, and found they were Latvians living in nearby Nelson where they worked at meat factories. They were charged with burglary and assault causing grievous bodily harm, but last week when they appeared at Burnley Crown Court the latter charge was dropped because prosecutors couldn't prove which of them had pushed her. Yesterday Mrs Hodgson said: 'That's nonsense - it was definitely the round-faced one (Budvyatis) who attacked me. 'I would have stood up in court and said that, but now I won't have the chance. I feel very let down. 'And to find out they were known criminals when they came to Britain and yet we can do nothing about it is appalling.' Mrs Hodgson, a retired nurse whose storekeeper husband Laurence died 12 years ago, has now moved into sheltered accommodation because her family were worried about her living alone. The mother-of-two needed 30 stitches, and more than six months on can barely open her mouth, although she has been able to resume work as a volunteer with the St John Ambulance at football matches. Her daughter, nurse Kathryn Nixon, 49, added: 'Why can't we be like America where people can be kept out of the country if they have criminal records? 'It feels as if their rights are more important than people like my mum's. The detective told me we don't know who we're letting in.

The law's a joke.' Since Latvia joined the EU in 2004, its citizens have been free to settle and work in Britain. Criminal convictions would not normally bar them from entry although these are meant to be kept on file, yet even here ministers have admitted that details of foreign criminals living in Britain are far from comprehensive. The case, which heaps more pressure on the Home Office, has echoes of the killing of schoolgirl Jeshma Raithatha by Viktors Dembovskis in 2005. He had a string of rape convictions in his native Latvia but no checks were made on his background when he moved to Britain. Last night Mrs Hodgson's MP, Labour's Gordon Prentice, said: 'We do not want these types of people here. 'Surely some checks on their background could have been made when they entered this country. Immigration should have stopped them.' He also criticised the courts for failing to pursue the assault charge. 'One or the other pushed her down the stairs. I do not really understand this. I don't know why the CPS did not press that point.' He called for them to be deported once they had served their sentences, although EU rules may make that impossible. A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service said it had tried unsuccessfully to argue in court that both men could be charged with the assault on the basis that it had been a joint enterprise. Both men admitted burglary and were remanded in custody to be sentenced next month. The violence they used will be cited as an 'aggravating factor' in a bid to persuade the judge to hand down lengthy sentences - the maximum jail term for burglary is 14 years.

6. ROGUE NURSES USING EU LOOPHOLES TO STAY IN BRITAIN

http://www.staffnurse.com/nursing-news-articles/rogue-nurses-use-eu-loopholes-2248.html

Growing evidence suggests that 'rogue' nurses are using loopholes in European law to work in Britain, regulators claimed today. One Dutch doctor was convicted of rape in his own country - but allowed to work in Britain, the Times revealed. And two banned Irish nurses have also been found to be working in Britain. The cases are cited in a letter signed jointly by representatives of Britain’s professional health regulation bodies, including the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

The problem has arisen because under EU law Britain is obliged to accept health professionals recognised in other EU countries. They need evidence of the correct training and a 'certificate of good standing' - but the regulators say the same standards are not being applied across the continent. In the letter the regulators state: 'In 2005, over 7,000 practitioners from the European Economic Area (the 27 EU states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) came to Britain to register with our regulatory bodies and find work. 'While the UK undoubtedly benefits from this high level of mobility there may be a minority who exploit free-movement rights and put patients at risk. 'Regulators in Europe must be given the tools to enable them to facilitate this free movement while at the same time ensuring the safety of patients and the public.'