Does anyone have any actual personal experience of immigration being a problem?

actually, there are large parts of the country that aren't crowded or overpopulated, and last year approx 400,000 Brits emigrated to other countries - the highest figure ever recorded. And not all immigrants stay forever. Many go home. So the argument alyson that we don't have the room is ill informed and reactionary. It is more the case that there is a concentration in certain areas like London, Birmingham, Leeds etc.... I agree with what alicatte said, our government needs to plan better for those areas.

And why would you think grigsy's neighbours would feel patronised because she enjoys their presence? And anyhow, I'd take that over ignorance/prejudice/racism any day.....

Grigsy, do your neighbours feel patronised at all?

I wont print my personal experiences as they will only be picked to bits, but the way I see it is we are a small island. We dont have a great deal of room and our resources are limited. True there are people all over the world who live in fear of their lives or in poverty. The solution isnt necessarily for us to take them in. I think we take a disproportionate amount of assylum seekers and other types of refugee. How many more can we actually take? There isnt an infinite limit is there? I would like immigration to be severely limited therefore, and thats not being racist its simply being practical.

If you have left your own country to come here, I would be interested to know why you chose this country as opposed to others such as France, Germany, USA, Canada, Australia?

No I haven't had any personal difficulties with immigrants and just love the new polish shop which sells lovely bread.

I am aware that in some areas there are problems with schools - not getting in but because the EAL needs of the children are quite great to start with so it impacts on 'lower average' and some children with special educational needs - not all. That usually disappears within a couple of terms though. Perhaps we need to plan for these contingencies in areas that seem to be affected.

Not at all.

I live in a vibrant community. My neighbours on the right of me are Ukarian, Filipio, Algerian and Iraqui's. They are all my friends. One guy can now vote. He is delighted.

My neighbour on the left (!!) is an aristocrat! Seriously. She's alright too...quite a laugh actually....

Down the road, we have a great Indian community, an Irish group, some lovely Polish shops, great Turkish places to eat...and that's not even touching Persia!

Come to Sunny Kilburn,NW6 London. Gordon and Sarah Brown visited my local pub yesterday. All I can say is, get out into your community and speak, connect and continue this Good Society we are living in. Oh, and don't forget to vote either!!

Ta-ra

Grigsy

well, there are areas that have issues due to overcrowding. one woman i worked with did volunteer work (and also some paid work) within immigrant communities from her 'home' country (she had moved to UK about 10 years earlier). the groups of immigrants lived in very cramped conditions, very few personal possessions - we did a collection at work of old blankets, saucepans etc which she gave to people who arrived with only one suitcase etc.

sadly, there are some people who live in these conditions, and some of those people then spend evenings hanging around, drinking/smoking on the street, and that can be unpopular. some of these people do also get involved in crime/dodgy 'deals' etc.

i also taught a lad from portugal. his entire family lived in a one room 'studio flat'. some of the family did some very dodgy deals.

the problem is as much to do with poverty as immigration.

and i used to live in cambs, not too far from where some chinese illegal immigrants were drowned after being put to work collecting mussels from rocks, as the tide came in. i'd say that was a fairly negative thing about immigration, how much they can be exploited.

Obviously there are issues. When you are different, you are noted for things which would usually go unnoticed. Eg, not replying to an invitation to your child's party. I remember inviting 15 kids to my daughter's birthday party. Only got 8 replies. I did not make any assumptions but perhaps, had they been Somalian, I might have. yaddayadda..........

pmsl at some of the comments on here which can essentially be condensed to 'I love immigrants - without them what would I do for a nanny/cleaner/hairdresser'

the world of mumsnet

Yes it has affected me.

I live in peterborough and I have people going through my bins, stealing from our garden, begging as you walk along,I have been spat at, THEY STOLE MY KITTEN AND WOULDNT GIVE HIM BACK UNTIL I PAID THEM!!!

Plus the police will not do anything because they do not want to add to the 'racial tension'

I don't want them to be victimised. I just want to live without all of the above going on.

Riven, crystal 123 said "ALySONPEACHES I have said yes (many times!) it does, and I have said, it effects poorer communities much more, how many MNs live in deprived council house slums? I don't and I bet most MNs don't either!"

Not particularly making a point, just saying that some of us do live in areas of council housing and its not all grim deprived slums. The houses have been modernised, we have a good school, but lots and lots of people who feel they have no future. Its very different to living in an affluent middle class suburb, like the one I moved from last year, but I like it here.

well done crystal123.

I live on the edge of a council estate, its not deprived, thanks to labour. Its in an area where maggie closed all the pits and now the steelworks have laid everyone off. No one regards it as a "council estate" around here though its just another collection of streets that have been here since the 1930s. Many people have bought their homes, so its just about impossible to get a house on here. The school my children attend is in the middle of a "council estate" and is a very good school, I should know I did supply teaching there. The class sizes are small and the foundation unit is superb. The infant department is now being rebuilt to enlarge it. There is lots of unemployment though, and interestingly enough the BNP is active.

When I recently went back to the town I was born in I went to a sandwhich shop. I asked for a tuna mayo bagette, the shop girl didn't understand... another person had to help as 'she only speaks Polish'.

So now you can get a job in a shop without being able to speak English, and English people cannot get what they want in a shop without a crash course in Polish

ALySONPEACHES I have said yes (many times!) it does, and I have said, it effects poorer communities much more, how many MNs live in deprived council house slums? I don't and I bet most MNs don't either!

Thanks for the clarification tanmu82. Seems reasonable, you pay into the system before you can be a part of it.

Dare anyone say yes?

sweetgrapes & renerusso, EU nationals can't just come here and claim benefits. It's not that straight forward.

"The rules are complicated and can be different for different groups and nationalities. Foreign nationals are not entitled to benefits when they are seeking work, unless they have already worked here and are temporarily unemployed. Citizens from the A8 countries for example, become entitled to benefits and housing if they are self-employed here, or if they have a job and register with the Workers Registration Scheme. Once they have been working lawfully for a year they no longer have to register when changing jobs and they become eligible for benefits when temporarily out of work as well as when working."

This is quoted from the site linked to earlier by a previous poster.

Bulgarians and Romanians have different restrictions on them.

I had a job holding a sign in the street but now I'm out of work - its all the poles taking away my job

Seriously - no I have not seen any negative things about immigration - only negative attitudes which I get really about. Especially regarding Asylum seekers - if most people heard about what they have been through I doubt they would deny them anything. You don't just up and leave your country, community, friends and family with very little belongings on a whim. People are being killed and tortured and some british want to send them back??!!!

Well, my dh says there's a local firm which will only employ people who can speak Polish. He can't name the firm or tell me exactly where it is, so I think he's picked up some pub talk. Sometimes he's just a twit.

DH doesn't get as much work as he used to, but that's due to so many venues closing down - mainly because of the smoking ban and abysmal economic climate, but I don't think either has anything to do with immigrants.

If it wsasn't for immigrants we wouldn't have our wonderful selection of Indain food and chinese food, along with others that are now becoming more common.

I read that Barking and Dagenham is 85% white Uk and one of the least ethinically diverse boroughs in London.

So what is their excuse then?

And WHY does that BNP bloke insist on wearing those horrible tan suits ALL the time?

SweetGrapes, to answer your question earlier on, yes EU citizens can just come here and claim benefits. Also they can work in the UK and claim child benefit for however many children they have even those not living in the UK but who live back in their home country. I think (but don't know for sure) this is reciprocal, so British citizens could move to another EU state and claim benefits there.

I'd go to the media on the shop issue. We had a shop in my home town in Scoptland that put up a sign saying 'Catholics Only'. The sign didn't stay up for long.

Most problems surrounding migration are about resources supplied by the state. Health, education etc.

But migration for economic reasons happens internally in the UK as well. Northerners coming to London as an example.

So resources need to have proper investment, instead of being relentlessly cut and underfunded on the back of right wing promises about a smaller state. (I include the Labour party on the right for clarity).

Because smaller states never apply to the security services, army, state power and the thousands of extra laws brought in by successive governments to control the population. Only to resources people actually want.

The debate on immigration is wholly false and much of it is underpinned by racism and the desire to apportion blame away from the state and corporate interests.