Immigration is the most contentious of all the challenges confronting today’s high-income countries. Decent people do not want to confront the issue, not only for fear of being labelled racist, but because, quite rightly, they do not want to poison relations with fellow citizens. But this is a vital issue for the future of a country. It must be confronted.

That the British agree is evident. According to an Ipsos Mori poll conducted in June, they regarded immigration and race relations as the second most important issue facing the country today, after crime. This is not surprising. Between 1995 and 2004 alone, net immigration by non-British people was a fraction under 2m, or
3 per cent of the population. It was 342,000 in 2004. This is some 60,000 more than the population of Leicester in a single year.