Immigration Rockets under Tories

So despite all the hot air about controlling immigration from Conservatives for close to a decade the truth will out.

The simple fact is that Conservatives all across the UK were happy to jump on the bandwagon for votes (see campaign poster from 2005) with the full knowledge that because of EU obligations and treaties they could never truly control internal migration.

It will get worse. Not only have the Tories lost control but they are cutting Customs and Border staff by 5,000.

So much for secure borders and controlled immigration!

Net migration rose by 21% last year, with 239,000 more people arriving in the UK than those leaving, the Office for National Statistics has revealed. In 2009, the total for net migration had stood at 198,000.

ONS estimates put long-term immigration in 2010 at 575,000, up slightly from 567,000 the year before. But the long-term emigration figure saw a sizeable drop from 371,000 two years ago to 336,000 - the lowest level for six years.The detail of the ONS figures showed the number of people arriving in the UK for a definite job at a six-year low of 110,000.

Net migration into the UK from the so-called A8 countries - the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - jumped to 39,000 from 5,000 in 2009. The range of figures released by the Office for National Statistics cover the calendar year of 2010, which saw a change of government in May - after an election campaign in which immigration was one of the main areas of debate.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said the period covered by the figures predated the government's "radical changes" to the immigration system.

Conservatives will try and pin the blame on Liberal Democrats, on Labour, on anyone but themselves but the fact is they have lost control of migration and do not have the means to control the problem. It is a pity they were not honest about this in 2001, 2005 or 2010 before they went after votes.

Labour was not as tough as it should have been on migration, and the impacts on communities where unscupulous landlords renting out sub-standard properties, and the cost implications in schools and services on both communties, and those children from poorer backgrounds who in some cases struggled to integrate was seen in the ballot box. Unions warned Labour about wages being undercut yet we were late to the table... it was a major error that did come up on the doorstep in the General Election in 2010, including infamously with Mrs Duffy.

Labour realised that a points-based system and tighter border controls were needed but were lambasted by Tories for doing it; now it seems the same people who have been chucking stones at glass houses are having to swallow a bitter bill; it is not an easy issue to deal with.

This is another bandwagon the right were very happy to exploit in opposition and which is now coming back to bite... and believe me; it will bite very hard in 2015 in Medway if these figures show an upward trend.