TORY CALLS FOR APOLOGY OVER MIGRANT WORDS

11:00 - 15 January 2008

Torbay's Tory prospective parliamentary candidate has waded into the row over plans for Torbay's future and migrant workers.

The feud was sparked by Mr Sanders's comments over Mayor Bye's economic blueprint for the English Riviera which he claimed focused too heavily on low value jobs filled by migrant workers.Marcus Wood has called on Adrian Sanders to apologise for his comments, which he says were 'ill advised' and have 'stoked up resentment and racism in the Bay'.

But Adrian Sanders responded: "Sadly Mr Wood, like the mayor, wants an economy focused on minimum wage, insecure jobs, most of which will be in tourism."

In a statement first published on his blog Mr Wood heavily criticises Mr Sanders for bringing the issue of migrant workers into the debate about the Mayoral Vision.

He said: "Whatever disagreements we have I cannot imagine Mr Sanders consciously intended his comments to mean what it seems they did mean to the dozens of people who rushed to applaud him on the Herald Express website.

The statement went on to claim: "The MP's comments have indeed been a great comfort to people on the far right and however unintentionally, he is responsible for stoking up resentment and racism in the Bay.

"I don't mind having a debate about controlling immigration, indeed we did have a debate about it at the last election.

"But there is a need to tread very carefully to ensure that the way this topic is discussed does not serve the purpose of extremists.

"Adrian has drawn the issue of immigration into the completely unrelated issue of the Mayor's Vision for Torbay and I think that was a serious error of judgement."

Mr Wood also suggested that Mr Sanders had been left 'isolated' by his comments and should apologise.

He said: "I can't decide if this is either a very sneaky political ploy or a catastrophic mistake on his part.

"On the one hand it has the potential to shore up his flagging support with people from the BNP and UKIP but on the other hand I think he has possibly isolated himself from many of his own natural supporters on the Liberal wing of the Liberal Democrats.

"My email box has this week come alive with pledges of support from people who say his statement is the last straw.

"Either way it would be wise for him to apologise for the offence he has caused, especially to those Eastern Europeans who contribute a very great deal to the Torbay economy and who might reasonably feel slighted by his statement."

However Adrian Sanders didn't hint at a u-turn.

He said: "I am sure Mr Wood is only trying to be helpful and I am touched by his concern, but no one is going to stop me from stating facts or raising the views of my constituents out of fear that they may be misrepresented.

"I want a successful economy in Torbay based on high value, all year round jobs, some of which might be in tourism.

"Sadly Mr Wood, like the mayor, wants an economy focused on minimum wage and insecure jobs, most of which will be in tourism.

"With the largest ever local government settlement at the mayor's disposal this year, together with the extra bus money he asked me to lobby for, and the possibility of accessing the £45million seaside resort regeneration fund I helped get started, there is a wonderful opportunity to market the area towards more secure, year round and better paid employment than the local economy is presently able to offer."

'WE'RE NOT A JOBS AGENCY FOR MIGRANTS'

A row has broken out over migrant workers between Torbay Mayor Nick Bye and the resort's MP Adrian Sanders.

"We are not a job agency for Eastern Europeans," claimed Mr Sanders, pictured right, as he acc-used Mayor Bye, left, of being too focused on low-value employment within the tourism industry, when he should be concentrating on creating highly-paid, skilled jobs.He criticised the mayor, claiming he did not understand Torbay's economy and said his mayoral 'vision' only creates jobs for migrant workers.

According to the Government, 50 per cent of all new jobs nationally are taken by migrants, Mr Sanders said.

As the majority of new jobs in the Bay are in tourism, they are likely to be taken by migrants, he added. The latest population figures reveal the number of people per square kilometre in England rose from 387 in 2005 to 390 last year - and the Office of National Statistics expects it to soar to 464 by 2031.

England is now the third most crowded major nation in Europe because of rising immigration, statistics show.

Mr Bye defended his vision, and claimed he is seeking to create a diverse economy.

He said he found Mr Sanders' comments 'surprising' and 'quite disturbing' and claimed life in Torbay would grind to a halt without Eastern European workers.

He said: "It would be great if our member of parliament could persuade a government agency to set up shop in Torbay, but I don't see the public sector as being the wealth creating sector in our national or local economy.

"The purpose of the public sector is to provide services at best value. I am leading a process of reshaping so that we have a council fit for purpose and budget. To just see it as an end in itself to create wealth is a nonsense and a cul-de-sac.

"I am disturbed about Adrian's comments about the number of people coming from Eastern Europe. Life in Torbay and many other places would grind to a halt without the contribution that people from Poland and elsewhere are making to Torbay.

"We have a rapidly ageing population and without contribution from Poland to the health and care sectors and tourism we would grind to a halt.

"If Adrian says this is a bad thing, he misunderstands life in the Bay and I think he is playing to the worst sort of prejudices. I am astonished he is making these comments.

"Polish people make a real contribution and work hard. We never hear criticism about them from the police, they are boosting the Catholic church and have very strong work ethics and very traditional family values.

"In the Bay they are taking some accommodation that would otherwise be taken by ne'er do wells. They are displacing other people moving here that in the past were referred to as 'benefit tourists' who really didn't make much contribution to Torbay.

"I would suggest that the member of parliament has a job to do at Westminster while I have a job here at the town hall trying to turn Torbay around.

"Why is it that in many parts of the country we have got so many young people who are no longer in employment, education or training - therefore creating a need for people from Eastern Europe to come to places like Torbay?

"Nationally, a failing education system leads to a large number of people coming into the UK to keep the economy going because we don't seem to be able to equip our young people with the necessary skills. Adrian needs to be questioning Gordon Brown about that."

But Mr Sanders said: "The mayor's vision looks mostly at tourism and low-value employment, and the problem is this creates jobs for people to come here from outside of the area.

"Most of these new jobs will be transient and seasonal and often only pay the minimum wage. There's very little stability and it's stability and long-term growth we need to be looking at, and that cannot be achieved overnight.

"We need a long-term strategy, testing everything against a template which asks is this development going to take money out of the economy or bring it in?

"There is no problem with Eastern European migrants filling local labour market shortages, but if effort is being put into creating jobs which are being filled by people from thousands of miles away, then clearly we are creating the wrong jobs.

"We have to diversify the economy and meet the needs of our school leavers and those who are qualified and looking for work in Torbay.

"What we are doing is exporting skilled people to fill market shortages in other parts of the country, but importing people from overseas to fill market shortages here. The impact is our economy stays poor."

Mr Sanders says skilled jobs in the Bay should be protected - including council officers whose jobs are threatened by the restructuring process and job losses at Torbay Hospital's sterilisation unit which faces closure.

"If we wanted to protect highly-skilled, well-paid jobs in local government we would not look at restructuring," he said.

"The bulk of people earning decent wages here are in the public sector. The higher the wage the better. We actually have to be very selective about the kind of development we want to see in Torbay and not just go for broke.

"We desperately need to ensure we are not just reliant upon one industry or one sector of employment.

"The mayor does not seem to actually understand the economy of Torbay and where it's going."

Marcus Wood, the Tory prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Bay, is 'outraged' at Mr Sanders' claims that tourism is largely a low-paid industry.

Mr Wood, who runs a recruitment business in Devon for the hotel and catering industry, said: "I think it's very misleading and not at all helpful to let it be suggested that the catering industry, on which we depend on South Devon College doing its best to persuade people to go into, is being lazily put around that it's badly paid. It's a completely false argument.

"Tourism, and particularly the hotel and catering side, is becoming extremely well paid for people at the professional end."

A quarter of the 330 full-time permanent staff at TLH Leisure Resort in Belgrave Road are from overseas.

Personnel manager Gary Brenton says the majority of them are from Poland.

He said: "They're great, they've really settled in well and we are pleased. They get very involved in the business, they work hard and are very good with the guests.

"Some have progressed into supervisory roles and their wages are higher than the basic rate.

"If they weren't around at all there would be other people doing those roles. They are important but they are not the only applications we get. It's a choice we make to employ the best person for the role."