56.7% of birth in London to foreign mums

[Mecky 10]

The child will be classed as British if at least one parent is a British citizen or legally "settled" in the country

 

Correctamondo. It's not the same for other countries though, if you are born in the USA you are an American citizen. That won't sit with some people.

[Sierra 21]

The child will be classed as British if at least one parent is a British citizen or legally "settled" in the country

 

Ok. Thanks.

[Fun it 10]

Yet they all gave birth to English children.

 

This may be technically/legally correct, but it goes against most peoples logic, by this I mean, when a Pakistani couple have a child here then all that has happened is that a Pakistani has been born in England.

[mj.scuba 10]

 

Oh and another..

 

http://www.itv.com/lorraine/lifestyle/olympic-mum-jessica-ennis/

 

Multi-culturism, it'll be the death of this country.

 

Why use Jessica Ennis as an example of multi-culturalism? She's a fantastic example of British and English culture and sporting success.

[mj.scuba 10]

From the link.

 

According to official figures, the average hospital birth can cost £1,600, meaning the total cost to the NHS of these would have been at least £30million.

 

Some of the women will have been born abroad and settled in the UK but a number will have visited just to use the NHS.

 

So called ‘health tourism’ as a whole is thought to cost taxpayers as much as £200million a year.

 

No, no, no. Nothing you say of real concern may be considered legitimate, you MUST be racist!

[Mister M 1,594]

I think people are forgetting that Britain is an aging population with lots of older people, living longer. Which is obviously a good thing. However, more elderly people and fewer youngsters would mean less people paying into the system to look after people to old or infirm to look after ourselves.

For a variety of cultural/social reasons people are not having as many kids as they used to; so British children born to parents who themselves not born in England isn't an issue as they will help to ease potential problems in the future.

[boyfriday 21]

I don't understand why someone wouldn't be concerned. It piqued my interest and I'm not even English. Why and how is this happening? Obviously, someone is keeping records. Who are these women? Do they stay? Do they leave after the births? Are they British citizens? Are the fathers of the children also foreign born? Or native born?

 

To put this in perspective, California is the most populous state in the US, with over 36,000,000 people. It also has the highest percentage of births to foreign born mothers at 43%. London's birth rate for foreign born women is even higher at a mind boggling 56.7%. With all due respect, how can you ignore or dismiss those numbers?

 

California also has no one racial majority, though it did when I was growing up. This will have a huge impact on demographics. It really will.

 

Does England have a version of Birthright Citizenship? I would imagine even if someone born in England leaves for whatever reason, they would want to return at some point, perhaps permanently.

 

Hi Sierra, I'm assuming from your previous posts that your an ex-pat living in the US and you have children?

 

So at some point you will have been one of those 'foreigners' who added to the American gene pool. The reason it's not something to be concerned about is the same reason you consider yourself a 'token yank', immigrants move to new countries, have children, they have children and over time they assimilate into the host population. I guess your children will consider themselves American, but have a special interest in their British background (assuming you were born here).

 

I posted a link earlier to Jessica Ennis, she has a black father who I guess wasn't born here. Jessica has a white, British boyfriend, so their children will look more like her white, British mother than they will her black, Jamaican father. It would be hard to think that any such progeny would consider themselves anything other than British first. My own back ground is similar, I'm the offspring of immigrants to the UK, have worked throughout my adult life, been an employer and had children..of the mixed race variety, who consider themselves Sheffielders first, then Yorkshiremen, then British and then Jamaican.

 

London is and always has been a very diverse city, as the main destination for immigrants for centuries, so although the headline figure might appear high, the immigrant population of London is also higher than it is for other areas (the % of births to foreign mother's in the north east was only 9.6%). But in any event, the vast majority of all those children will consider themselves citizens of the country of their birth, assimilate into it and make a contribution..just as you and your children do in the US

 

Personally I don't give a monkey's what colour/nationality or religion my neighbour is, provided he makes a contribution, isn't anti social and knows the difference between Lea & Perrins and Hendersons. The irksome slant that the Daily Mail put on the story, associating births amongst foreign women to benefit tourism is particularly distasteful.

[Mr Prime 10]

What makes you believe that that's desirable?

 

We don't really know, referendum time. I think it's obvious how the referendum would go.

[boyfriday 21]

No, no, no. Nothing you say of real concern may be considered legitimate, you MUST be racist!

 

Calm down scuba ol' boy, it is surprising from which quarters the ubiquitous race card is now played.

[chem1st 10]

I think people are forgetting that Britain is an aging population with lots of older people, living longer. Which is obviously a good thing. However, more elderly people and fewer youngsters would mean less people paying into the system to look after people to old or infirm to look after ourselves.

For a variety of cultural/social reasons people are not having as many kids as they used to; so British children born to parents who themselves not born in England isn't an issue as they will help to ease potential problems in the future.

 

The reason is purely economic - it is the high cost of housing.

 

Communities will die, and new ones will be formed. Surely we should be trying to tackle the birth crisis and save our communities? (below replacement birth rates for 41 years)

[boyfriday 21]

We don't really know, referendum time. I think it's obvious how the referendum would go.

 

Oh yes, a little like a poll of Wednesdayites on who should win the Championship.

[choogling 14]

Quite true, it's a good job there aren't restrictions on the voting rights of the cerebrally challenged.

Don't think they will bring that in you will be ok.