'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."