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Conservative Party on Asylum and Immigration

Immigration has always been a key political issue in the United Kingdom (UK). Immigration's importance has increased over the last twenty years as the UK’s participation in the European Union (EU) and its subsequent enlargement has led to an influx in legal migration to the UK as a consequence of the free movement of labour. The key issues include the level of legal immigration, illegal immigration from outside the EU, the effect of immigration on the UK economy, and the strain future immigration levels may have on public services and infrastructure.

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The issues

Conservative Party strongly supports the setting of limits on levels of net immigration into the UK

"The second stage is an annual limit to control the numbers admitted with regard to the wider effects on society and the provision of public services."

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Conservative Party opposes stopping all immigration into the UK

"Immigration can be of real benefit to the UK, but only if it is properly controlled with its impact on the economy, public services and social cohesion taken into account…Our approach will ensure that we admit both the right people for our economy and also the right number of people."

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Conservative Party strongly supports the use of ethnicity as a determinant for who is able to enter and reside in the UK

"Unlike Labour's Border Agency, which does not even include the police, our force will have the power to stop, search, detain and prosecute the terrorists, traffickers and illegal immigrants who currently slip through the net."

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Pledge "to enforce such controls, and to prevent illegal immigration and combat criminals who compromise our security, we need a new approach to managing our borders. So we will introduce a dedicated Border Police Force to protect the UK's borders."

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Conservative Party supports the application of limits on the number of migrants allowed to enter the UK from new EU accession states

"A Conservative government would also apply transitional controls as a matter of course in the future for all new EU entrants."

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