unnameable
New member
Since Tony Blair's mendacious outfit came to power, some two million people have entered the country, as either immigrants (legal or illegal) or asylum-seekers. During the last parliament, the government expressed its desire to see the population of the United Kingdom rise to seventy million by 2030. Given that the Liberal Democrats have made no comment on the matter, and that, traditionally, the party has not opposed mass immigration, one can reasonably assume that it supports the government's stance (one cannot call it a policy, given that, one, the public has not been consulted on the matter and, two, it has not been enshrined in legislation) and would like to see the projected figure realised.
As we have seen with the Falmer saga, though, the Liberal Democrats are fervently committed to preserving England's green and pleasant land. However, if the present level of immigration is sustained, the pressure to develop greenfield sites will be impossible to resist. Given that newcomers gravitate towards the south-east of England, the South Downs, protected or not, is bound to be seen as land ripe for development.
How, then, can the ever-self-righteous Liberal Democrats reconcile its desire to protect the countryside from development with its tolerance of unsustainable levels of immigration?
I put the question to the press officer of Lewes District Council, on the telephone, and was answered with incoherent spluttering.
To me, the two issues are inextricably linked, whatever one feels about immigration and green issues.
As we have seen with the Falmer saga, though, the Liberal Democrats are fervently committed to preserving England's green and pleasant land. However, if the present level of immigration is sustained, the pressure to develop greenfield sites will be impossible to resist. Given that newcomers gravitate towards the south-east of England, the South Downs, protected or not, is bound to be seen as land ripe for development.
How, then, can the ever-self-righteous Liberal Democrats reconcile its desire to protect the countryside from development with its tolerance of unsustainable levels of immigration?
I put the question to the press officer of Lewes District Council, on the telephone, and was answered with incoherent spluttering.
To me, the two issues are inextricably linked, whatever one feels about immigration and green issues.
