'Immigration to blame' for rise in terrorism

Jul 19 2007 by Rob Merrick, Liverpool Daily Post

A MERSEYSIDE Labour MP has broken ranks by becoming the first in the country to blame the failed bomb attacks in London and Glasgow on rising immigration into Britain.

Outspoken Birkenhead member Frank Field said his constituents were angry when the Government told them to be “vigilant” following last month’s aborted terror scares.

He said the reality was that ministers had failed to be vigilant by letting in so many immigrants, some of whom had turned to terrorism,

The manager of Liverpool’s Asylum Link charity last night branded Mr Field’s comments as irresponsible and potentially dangerous, as did Adam Kelwick, a Muslim-based chaplain in Wavertree. And the head of Merseyside police’s community relations team said multi-ethnic and faith groups across the region had been overwhelmingly receptive to pleas for vigilance.

Superintendent Rowland Moore described any comments which undermined public reassurance in the wake of the failed London and Glasgow attacks as “not helpful”.

During a Commons debate, Mr Field said: “In the statements of relief that the last bombing episode had not wrought the evil on innocent people that had been intended, Cabinet ministers told us to be vigilant.

“The report back from my constituents in Birkenhead market was: ‘What a damned cheek that they should lecture us on vigilance!’

“If the political class had been a little more vigilant in the past, and responded to their regular doubts and worries about the level of immigration, we might not, they said, be listening to such statements.”

Some of the suspects arrested after bombs failed to go off in London city centre and at Glasgow Airport grew up in Iraq, Jordan, India and elsewhere.

During the debate on immigration, Mr Field went on to say that the Home Secretary’s failure to track people leaving Britain to go to terror camps abroad would “haunt her as time goes on”.

And he attacked the decision to grant free movement to workers from the poorer countries of Eastern Europe, when their living standards were so much lower.

He warned: “The future of the European Union is an unsure one if we continue blindly to turn our eyes away from what is now a mass movement of people within Europe.”

In response, immigration minister Liam Byrne accepted there was a “social impact” as well as an economic one and pointed to the new points-based work permit system that was being brought in.

He also highlighted new government systems that he said would track the majority of migrants by 2009. Last night, Adam Kelwick, a Muslim chaplain based in Wavertree, said: “To use this kind of language is irresponsible.

“He’s obviously got an agenda to push, targeting asylum-seekers and immigrants who themselves are extremely vulnerable.

“They would far rather live in their own countries, if there was no interference with their daily lives.

” Superintendent Rowland Moore, who heads Merseyside police’s community relations team, said in response to Mr Field’s re-counting of his constituents’ views: “That may be what he’s being told, but that’s certainly not what we’re hearing on the ground.

“The community has been very receptive to the message of vigilance – and that includes the white population of the city.”

Ewan Roberts, centre manager of Liverpool’s Asylum Link charity, said: “I’d criticise anyone who uses emotive language and makes sweeping statements like this.

“It is irresponsible and it could be dangerous.”

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