'Ethnic majority' areas growing, says report
The number of areas where black and Asian people make up the bulk of the population has grown significantly in the last decade, according to new research.
Demos, the Left-wing think-tank, said its analysis of Census data for England and Wales showed
ethnic minorities are concentrating in particular areas and white people are
moving out.
The findings echo a phenomenon first seen in the mid-20th century United
States - where it was dubbed “white flight” - which saw racially-mixed urban
areas become predominantly black as affluent whites moved to the suburbs.
The research is significant because Demos, which was once closely linked with
the previous Labour government which increased
immigration to record levels, suggested ethnic minorities are becoming more
isolated in British life rather than becoming more integrated in a
“multi-cultural” Britain.
It found 4.6 million ethnic minority Britons - about 45 per cent of the
country’s black and Asian population - are now living in areas where whites are
in a minority.
Ten years ago just one million black and Asian people, or 25 per cent of the
country’s then total ethnic minority population, lived in such communities, said
Demos.
In the 2001 Census, 282 of the 8,850 council wards in England and Wales were
classed as “high non-white” or “highest non-white” by Demos, but in the 2011
Census that figure had risen to 414.
David Goodhart, director of Demos said: “This has uncovered a really quite
shocking level of concentration of the ethnic minority population, which means
there is less opportunity for interaction with the white mainstream.”
Demos’s research said in minority-dominated areas new waves of immigrants
such as Somalis take up housing vacated by established minorities, such as
Afro-Caribbeans.
“This means a dissipation of ethnic concentrations, but also an increase in
the number of people who have limited contact with white British people,” it
said.
The paper attributed the changes to white British people choosing not to move
to minority-dominated areas.
Trevor Phillips, a former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality and
its successor, described it as “majority retreat”.
Mr Phillips, who is now a Demos associate, said: “This very interesting piece
of research reveals a number of vital findings about how people in England and
Wales are living together.
“What ought to make us a little anxious is the ‘majority retreat’ it has
unearthed – white people leaving minority-led areas and not returning – which
isn’t good news for the cause of integration.”
The research by Eric Kaufmann, professor of politics at Birkbeck College,
London, also showed some ethnic minorities are spreading out more into
white-dominated parts of the country.
Black and Asian people are becoming less rare in provincial England because
there are now fewer than 800 council wards that are more than 98 per cent white
compared with more than 5,000 in 2001.
Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch said the findings were a sign
that Britain is becoming more segregated.
He said: "This is extremely serious. It is undeniable evidence that we have
indeed been sleepwalking into segregation as Trevor Phillips warned seven years
ago and it is the clear result of Labour's mass immigration policy.
"Public dismay at the pace of change in our communities largely explains why
so many voted as they did in last week's local elections.
"The case for a sharp reduction in immigration is now overwhelming; we cannot
possibly integrate new arrivals on anything like the present scale."
250,000 Bulgarians and Romanians 'to head to UK'
Around 250,000 migrants from Bulgaria and Romania could head to the UK for
work when restrictions are lifted at the end of the year, campaigners said,
after ministers admitted the influx could lead to housing shortages.
The Government has refused to issue an estimate of the number of foreign
workers who are expected move to the UK from the two countries after getting the
right to work in Britain.
But an analysis of the numbers who flooded into the country from Poland and
other Eastern European countries in 2004 showed around 50,000 migrants a year
for the next five years could head to the UK, the campaign group Migration Watch
UK said.
The influx of foreign workers is expected to be lower than nine years ago as
temporary restrictions on workers from Bulgaria and Romania have been in place
and other European countries will be lifting their controls at the same time.
But Britain remains one of the most attractive destinations for migrants,
“partly because of its flexible labour market and partly because of the ease of
access to its benefits system”, Migration Watch said.
It found around 50,000 extra foreign workers could head to Britain each year
for the next five years once restrictions are lifted on December 31, but
admitted this estimate could vary from between 30,000 and 70,000
The actual number could even be significantly higher as the 2.5 million Roma
in Bulgaria and Romania are a “wild card”, it added.
Sir Andrew Green, the group’s chairman, said: “It is not good enough to duck
making an estimate of immigration from Romania and Bulgaria.
“It is likely to be on a scale that will have significant consequences for
housing and public services.
“It will also add further to the competition which young British workers
already face.
“We have therefore produced our own estimate as a contribution to an
important debate which must include the ease with which migrants to the UK can
currently access the welfare state”.
However, the group admitted there was “no purely statistical basis” to
produce estimates, adding it was a “matter of judgement, taking into account the
factors”.
A previous estimate from Tory MP Philip Hollobone that the number of
Romanians and Bulgarians in Britain could jump from 155,000 to 425,000 within
two years also “seems exaggerated”, the group added.
The latest estimate comes as David Cameron prepares to give a major speech
about Britain’s future in Europe, which could pave the way for a referendum on
EU membership.
The Prime Minister is coming under growing pressure from Tory backbenchers
who want him to repatriate powers from the EU that would allow the UK to set its
own immigration policies.
Mr Cameron has set up a ministerial Cabinet committee to examine the rules on
migrants’ access to benefits before the Romanians and Bulgarians are allowed to
move to Britain for work when the temporary limits expire on December 31 this
year.
Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government,
admitted migrants from the two countries arriving next year "will cause
problems".
“Given that we’ve got a housing shortage, any influx from Romania and
Bulgaria is going to cause problems,” Mr Pickles told the BBC’s Sunday Politics
programme.
“It’s going to cause problems not just in terms of the housing market but
also on social housing market.”
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