Immigration centre of election debate

With recent statistics showing that one in ten of Britons were born abroad, immigration is emerging as a key issue in 6 May British general election, reports The Times. Unveiling the Labour party manifesto 12 April, PM Gordon Brown will seek to address concerns that immigrants without sufficient English working in the health service risk putting patients lives at risk. One pledge, the London daily reveals, is “to extend the English language requirement to all new applicants for public sector jobs”. The Times leader argues that immigration “is a wonderful problem for a country to have”, and takes pride in the fact that “this is where they (immigrants) want to be”. But it takes issue with Mr Brown’s pledges : “In truth, this is less a policy about immigration, than a bad one about public sector recruitment. If a doctor does not speak English, he may risk lives; if a traffic warden does not, he may risk social cohesion. But a binman? A cleaner?”