Immigration 'at limit' in Slough says UKIP
BBC NEWS
Page last updated at 08:44 GMT, Saturday, 24 April 2010 09:44 UK
Slough cannot cope with any more immigration – that is the view of the constituency's UK Independence Party candidate Peter Mason-Apps.
Liberal Democrat Chris Tucker said the main problem was the government had failed to keep up with the town's population, leading it underfunded.
Fiona Mactaggart, Labour, said more needed to be done to help improve English language skills in the town.
Conservative Diana Coad said rules on immigration needed to be tightened.
Mr Tucker told the BBC: “I think overall, immigration is a positive good news story for Slough. I am proud to live in a town where all the communities get on well.
'Seriously underfunded'
“I think it's the speed of the change in population over the last 10 years which has been the real problem.
“It's just that the government statisticians don't seem to be able to keep up with the change, so the town is being underfunded quite seriously.”
Ms Mactaggart agreed that immigration was positive, using bilingual children as an example.
“The important thing is not that the child starts with another language… but that they get access to English quickly,” she said.
Diana Coad, Conservative candidate for Slough
Diana Coad said Slough was very overcrowded
“We have increased the number of English as a foreign language courses in Slough and we do need to make sure that mums can read with their children in English.”
Ms Coad said: “It's certainly very overcrowded, there's no doubt about that.
“I think most people in Slough want to know that those in genuine fear of their lives have somewhere to go to, but we also feel the country is very, very crowded and there's a strain on the infrastructure, housing, schools, GPs, jobs, everything.
“You can't go on like this forever because the fact is the government have presided over runaway migration.
“The Liberal Democrats are talking about an amnesty for half a million migrants and I heard Lord Ashdown saying that it works but it doesn't because they did it in Spain and the US and it simply encouraged more people to come in.”
Mr Mason-Apps said: “The feedback I am getting from Slough people… is that they are finding it's a problem at the moment and they are feeling swamped and certainly the schools are having difficulties.
“I think there has got to be a sensible control and this is the problem. Because the EU really controls our immigration in the end, none of the three major parties' policies could control immigration effectively.”
The candidates standing for election in the Slough constituency are: Conservative: Diana Coad; Green: Miriam Kennet; Labour: Fiona Mactaggart; UK Independence Party: Peter Mason-Apps; Liberal Democrat: Chris Tucker.
