Immigration minister urged to withdraw 'smear' against statistics chief or resign

Daily Mail 5th March 2009

Experts from Britain's statistics watchdog hit back at immigration minister Phil Woolas yesterday as controversy mounted over his attack on the 'sinister' release of population figures.

Sir Michael Scholar warned they were being 'pilloried' for publishing objective information and insisted immigration statistics had been released as they were clearly 'in the public interest'.

Mr Woolas was embroiled in a row with official statisticians after questioning their motives in publishing figures showing one in nine UK residents was born overseas.

He was last night urged to withdraw his 'smear' against the independent statistics body or resign.



Jacqui Smith has been urged to sack Phil Woolas for his attack on the ONS

And as critics said the minister had effectively accused the Office of National Statistics of racism, Downing Street gave him only lukewarm support.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman was forced to insist that the Government believed in the independence of the body, which collects and publishes impartial data.

The Daily Mail revealed yesterday that the minister had tried to prevent the organisation publishing the immigration data and accused it of 'playing politics'.

Sir Michael, head of the UK Statistics Authority, made public a letter rejecting Mr Woolas's claim that the release of immigration statistics has been 'naive and politically motivated'.

'Whether you call it naivety or openness, statisticians must be encouraged to publish independent and objective statistics, not pilloried for doing so,' he said.

Sir Michael said data on trends in the country of birth and nationality of workers in the UK had been released because the ONS had 'judged that it was in the public interest to publish neutral and objective statistics on this subject as soon as possible'.

Senior Tory MP Michael Fallon, a former chairman of the Commons statistics panel, said Home Secretary Jacqui Smith should fire Mr Woolas if he would not withdraw his attack. 'It's disgraceful, undermining the ONS. You can't have ministers attacking its independence,' he said.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'Ministers cannot lay into independent statisticians simply because they do not like the figures they produce or dislike the timing of when they are ready.'

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'This whole row is becoming extremely unedifying.

'When ministers appear more concerned about making sure the figures tell a good story than actually tackling the problems in our immigration system, this is a clear sign of a Government that is out of touch.'

But Mr Woolas said he was right to be concerned that in publishing the figures outside its normal release schedule, the ONS had been seeking to influence the political debate.

He said he was 'appalled' at the way the body had highlighted figures showing one in nine British residents was born abroad.

He accused the ONS of trying to 'grab headlines' in order to show it was a 'newly liberated and independent body'.

'The ONS said they released the figures because they were topical,' the minister said. 'They have got to be very careful, in my view, that they don't enter what is the most inflamed debate in British politics.'

Asked whether the Prime Minister endorsed Mr Woolas's views, Mr Brown's spokesman replied: 'Phil Woolas chooses his own words and it is right that he does so.'