Political commentator Matt Goodwin outlined seven immigration revelations that were brought to light in parliament earlier this week.
The academic outlined the ways in which the government is concealing data on immigration from the public which “breeds distrust.”
Goodwin said on X: “Remarkable revelations in parliament today.
“The department for Work & Pensions has stopped publishing data on welfare claims by nationality.
"The Home Office does not reveal how much it is spending on hotel accommodation for migrants," says Matt Goodwin
Getty“HMRC have stopped publishing tax paid and tax credits received by nationality.
“The Home Office will not answer questions on the immigration status of prisoners
“The Home Office have the data but they refuse to publish it.
“The Home Office does not collect nationality or immigration data on those who are arrested.
“The Home Office does not reveal how much it is spending on hotel accommodation for migrants.
“The Home Office says it does not know how much it spends on refugee loans (its taxpayer money).”
“This is what breeds distrust. Collect and publish the data. Show us what is really going on,” he concluded.
Neil O’Brien, the Conservative MP for Harborough, Oadby & Wigston, also spoke about the Government hiding data during a parliamentary debate.
O’Brien said we should be able to find answers to questions like how many people in our jails entered the country illegally. And, how much do we spend on welfare for people from different countries and how much do they pay in tax?
But, according to him we can’t because the Government won’t publish the data needed to draw conclusions making questions about immigration harder to find.
“While other governments around Europe are publishing more and more data on migration, in the UK we’re publishing less and less,” said O’Brien.
REMARKABLE revelations in parliament today:
— Matt Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) September 10, 2024
-The department for Work & Pensions has stopped publishing data on welfare claims by nationality
-HMRC have stopped publishing tax paid & tax credits received by nationality
-the Home Office will not answer questions on the immigration…
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The Tory MP added that the decision to hold back the data has become more relevant because Labour’s main approach to the small boats crisis is to hide the costs in the wider expenses of the welfare state.
He explained that the government would also use the same practice in their handling of the asylum backlog.
"Just make people who came here illegally legal, and hey presto, problem solved.
“In a few years Labour will be able to boast that spending on the asylum system, currently £4 billion a year, is down, as the costs 'disappear' into the wider welfare system where they will no longer be published,” said O’Brien.
Other countries calculate the impacts and costs of asylum migrants. For example, the University of Amsterdam calculated that, over a lifetime, the average net cost of an asylum migrant to the Dutch public is more than £400,000.
“That we cannot have an honest conversation about the consequences of this breeds huge mistrust. To avoid the problems we are seeing elsewhere in Europe, we need a new, transparent approach,” O’ Brien added.
