Below is an account of a Centre for Policy Studies lecture attended by two Year 13 Politics students Grace Stuart and Edward Le Gassick.
On Thursday the 16th September Grace Stuart and I attended lecture on family migration by Damian Green at the Centre of Policy Studies, London. Damian Green is a Member of Parliament for Ashford and currently holds the position of Immigration Minister; he has formerly been employed by the ‘BBC’ as a financial journalist, for ‘The Times’ and for ‘Channel 4 News’ as a business producer. He has also written speeches for John Major during his Prime Ministerial period.
The Centre of Policy Studies (CPS) is one of Britain’s most reputable political think-tanks which discusses and develops policy with the interest to ‘limit the role of the State, to encourage enterprise and to enable the institutions of society – such as families and voluntary organisations – to flourish’[1]. It was founded in 1974 by Margaret Thatcher and Sir Keith Joseph.
We were unsure of what to expect at the Centre, and when we arrived were surprised to find a small room with no more than 20 people in. Green opened the lecture by mentioning that he believed that the vast majority of people in the UK feel that we need less immigration and that he agrees. He said that after years of spiralling immigration figures, they had finally stabilised- albeit at a far too high level. He also made the important point of saying that in order to allow our countries migration policies to progress constructively, we must not just ‘shut the door’ but rather must strive for immigration which is better targeted and fairer, alongside achieving lower numbers. Another point Green made which I personally believe is becoming increasingly important in our society today, is that our immigration ‘problem’ should not be ignored, as this purposeful ignorance from our main political policy makers is likely to only lead to an increase in interest in extremist party policies and popularity as they appear as the only group of people or offering a solution or decisive action.
Green then continued to speak about the Coalition governments main aims when it comes to family migration, quite simply these boiled down to; tacking abuse of the system (largely through ‘sham’(fake) and forced marriage, promoting integration into the community and finally reducing burdens on the taxpayer. He also highlighted problems with the efficiency of the current system which would be looked into. Such a problem was that many visa applications were denied on the basis of a lack of evidence. The majority of applicants which are denied on this basis then take an (governmentally) expensive and much longer (34 weeks) route of appeal, rather than just re-submitting their application with all necessary evidence for £76, which will take just 15 working days.
An interesting and extremely controversial point Green made at the conclusion of the lecture was that there had been a large amount of public debate to as how the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) Article 8(an individual’s right to family life) should be interpreted and applied. This is largely because Article 8 allows for a consideration of public interest alongside the individual’s right to a family life to be incorporated in decisions. This is why the Coalition government has created a commission to examine the prospect of the creation of a UK Bill of Rights. Green was seemingly very doubtful of the benefits of such a bill.
The speech itself can be read at http://www.cps.org.uk/cps_catalog2/Damian%20Green%20MP%20Family.pdf.