Mass Immigration – Let the People (always) decide!
IT SEEMS that e-petitions are like busses. You wait ages for one – and then two come along at once!
Last week we highlighted the latest move by the Campaign for a Referendum. (The CfaR is a cross party initiative led by Independent MEP Nikki Sinclaire. Earlier this year they gathered 120,000 signatures demanding a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. This petition forced the debate in Parliament late last month. Here, an alliance of Con-Dem Government and the Labour-led ‘Opposition’ voted against allowing the British people a vote in a referendum on the EU.)
However, not to be undone, the CfaR have launched another petition – The European Union – LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE – calling for an EU Referendum. Over 5000 people have already signed this new petition. You can find it here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20911?utm_
Another successful e-petition doing the rounds has been launched by Sir Andrew Green of Migration Watch UK. MGUK is “an independent, voluntary, non political body which is concerned about the present scale of immigration into the UK.”
The Parliamentary Reform Bill ensures that any petition of 100,000 signatures is eligible for a formal debate in the House of Commons. MGUKs petition has already attracted well over the 100,000 signatures needed.
However, the National Liberal party calls upon as many people as possible to continue signing this petition. We feel that it is essential that Parliament knows the depth of feeling relating to the subject of mass immigration. We also need to force MPs to deal with questions they would rather sweep under the carpet.
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Mass Immigration is not about asylum
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We also feel that it’s necessary to make MPs understand that mass immigration has nothing to do with genuine political asylum. They are completely different and should be treated as such.
The NLP supports genuine political asylum seekers like one of our historical 'heroes' the Italian nationalist and liberal Giuseppe Mazzini. However, we are completely opposed to mass uncontrolled immigration.
For instance, Britain has a rich and noble tradition of providing political asylum. Indeed, one of the NLPs historical ‘heroes’, the Italian nationalist and liberal Giuseppe Mazzini, took advantage of this whilst hiding from Austrian and Italian Monarchist agents in the 19th Century.
Mass immigration, on the other hand, represents a mass ‘free for all’. It makes it impossible to tell who is in the country and who isn’t. Anyone – particularly those who live in inner-city areas – will be able to testify that it puts an intolerable strain on public services. Indeed, if we don’t know how many people are in the UK, how can we even begin to plan for housing, schools, health care and transport?
The MWUK e-petition notes:
“Over the past ten years the government has permitted mass immigration despite very strong public opposition reflected in numerous opinion polls. We express our deep concern that, according to official figures, the population of the UK is expected to reach 70 million within 20 years with two thirds of the increase due to immigration. While we recognise the benefits that properly controlled immigration could bring to our economy and society, this population increase, which is the equivalent of building seven cities the size of Birmingham, will have a huge impact both on our quality of life and on our public services yet the public has never been consulted. So we call on the government to take all necessary steps to get immigration down to a level that will stabilise our population as close to the present level as possible and, certainly, well below 70 million.”
You can sign the No to 70 million e-petition here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/19658
Date: November 10, 2011
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