UUP leader Doug Beattie: Politicians not listening to 'law-abiding citizens' on immigration in Northern Ireland
UUP leader Doug Beattie says politicians have not been listening to concerns from "decent law-abiding citizens" about immigration.
The MLA was speaking after protests across the UK about immigration, including Belfast, many of which turned violent.
Several businesses were attacked following violence which erupted in Belfast after anti-immigration protests on Saturday.
Three police officers were injured in the disorder. Four men were due to appear in Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Monday on charges linked to the violence.
Speaking on the Nolan Show on Monday morning, Mr Beattie was asked if there has been "a failure for politicians to listen and understand the level of anger within law-abiding citizens about immigration policy in this country?"
Mr Beattie replied: "Yeah, I think there is. I think it's one of those really difficult conversations that, in many ways, politicians have shied away from it."
The whole issue about immigration is not as localized as people think and is bigger than the UK or the island of Ireland, he said.
He argued that it is a global issue caused mostly by conflict but also other factors.
"So there are people out there, and they are decent, law-abiding people, who have concerns about immigration, and we're not listening to them,” he added.
However he said others were simply interested in violence.
"You do have to separate that from those people who go out, who are intent on thuggery. They're not intent on having a discussion, they're not intent on having a peaceful protest to raise their concerns. They are intent on going out and spreading hate and violence and racism, and you can see that that's what they did on Saturday."
He said the police were stretched with 130 related incidents across NI during the violence.
Mr Beattie said he does not believe immigration is causing UK citizens to have difficulty in accessing healthcare and housing, but said that more investment is needed in these areas.
But he said there were legitimate concerns about immigration, in particular about undocumented immigration.
"The legitimate concerns about immigration is that people are coming into Northern Ireland and they're not documented," he said.
"And therefore they're below the radar on pretty much everything that we have here. So there's genuine concerns about that. How are they making a living? What are they doing to make a living?
The Home Office is struggling to process the volume of immigrants coming into the UK and needs many more staff to cope, he said.
"They're so slow in the home office, and we think they need to have at least four times the number of people dealing with migrants."