There was a classic example of pro-mass immigration reporting from Mark Easton on last night's BBC News at Ten.
We had:
(a) Mark quickly asserting that "it's fair to say" that Corby's prosperity relies on EU migration.
(b) His use of vox pops which found a 2:1 majority in favour of mass immigration.
(c) A further assertion from Mark, this time stating that a slowing of EU immigration is already having a bad impact.
(d) The use of a business manager who backed Mark's thesis.
(e) The use of someone from a think tank who also backed Mark's thesis, and
(f) No opposing voices, other than Vox Pop 1.
And also note that (g) the think tank in question - the IPPR - wasn't labelled 'left-leaning'.
All in a day's work for Mark Easton!
Here's a transcript:
Huw Edwards: Let's stay with Brexit because the Cabinet has been discussing what should happen to immigration to the UK after Brexit. Ministers agreed in principle that highly-skilled workers from all over the world should be prioritised and EU nationals should not be given preferential treatment. But some business leaders fear that accepting fewer low-skilled migrants from the EU could damage the economy. Our home editor Mark Easton sent this report from Corby.
Mark Easton: Corby's been described as England's fastest-growing town. Thousands of EU migrant workers, particularly from Poland, have seen its population and its economy expand rapidly in recent years. Now, it's fair to say that the prosperity of this town is reliant on often low-skilled workers from Europe, but the pace of change has also created real tensions here. With Government ministers suggesting special treatment of EU workers will end with Brexit and a squeeze on low-skilled migration, do the people of Corby think that's good or bad for the town?Vox Pop 1: I think it's a good thing, actually, because I think we've got enough unskilled workers. We could do fair enough with people that's got skills, but I think we've got more than enough of our own.
Vox Pop 2: They bring more money in as well as us. I mean, we've got a load of people that work in care in our place at work, Eastern Europeans, and they do the amount of stuff what we do.
Vop Pop 3: It would be detrimental to the town. I talked to a neighbour the other day who runs a job agency and he said he's looking for 600 staff, all various jobs, skilled and unskilled, can't get anyone.The corrugated sheds which typify Corby's economic expansion already struggle to find the people they need because of a slowdown in European migration. In this one, the boss says making it more difficult to recruit would pose real challenges.John Temple, General Manager, Tablecraft Ltd: 50% of our workforce is migrant European workers. So that is, you know, if you take those away from us, then we're going to be struggling to find good people.
Mark Easton: Well, why don't you train up British workers?
John Temple: We will train up anybody who comes to work for us. We get very few people from the UK wanting to come and work in this environment.Corby's migration has been a focus of particular study for analysts at the IPPR think tank, who reckon the Government's proposed limit on low-skilled migrants would mean many potential workers from the EU would be unable to get a visa to work in the town.Phoebe Griffith, IPPR: Our estimate would be that about 80% of the people living in Corby today from the European Union would not qualify to be working, to come to work in Corby in the future.Corby's steel industry was forged from the imported muscle and sweat of Scottish labour. When that declined, new growth came with arrivals from Eastern Europe. Now, this resilient town, like many, may have to reinvent itself for a new chapter. Mark Easton, BBC News, Corby.
