Debate rages over foreign immigration

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), net migration into the region from abroad is relatively high – Yorkshire's 2007 rate of 45 immigrants per 10,000 residents was third only behind London and the East of England. In the North-East the rate was 33, and in the North-West just seven.

However a recent report for three northern regional development agencies, including Yorkshire Forward, cast doubt on the ONS figures.

It concludes that "flows to Yorkshire and the Humber were lower than officially estimated... and that Northern regions experience very little gain through migration."

A separate study, by the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Migration Partnership, attempts to put a more exact figure on the long-term trends. The partnership is a public sector organisation which gathers information about migration in and out of the region.

Its report states: "While the past few years have seen significant numbers of new accession migrant workers (from eastern European countries), at a high of around 25,000 arriving in 2007, there is a stable historical trend of 15 – 20,000 migrants from other countries arriving each year."

Over a 25-year period, this level of immigration would amount to nearly half a million people coming into Yorkshire – around half the total increase predicted by the ONS by 2033.