The immigrant populations have been grossly underestimated

On 21 November 2011, The Daily Mail quoted Colin Barrow, Leader of Westminster Council, thus:

"After four years of work supposedly improving migration estimates, the ONS apparently still has little idea how many migrants are in this country or where they live and work. Our incoming migrant population appears to have dropped by 17 per cent over four years; you only have to go out into the bars and restaurants in the West End to see that MIGRANTS COME TO WESTMINSTER TO LIVE AND WORK IN MUCH GREATER NUMBERS THAN THIS.

We would seriously question the estimate that fewer than 4,000 migrants came to Westminster in the 2009 financial year to seek work. We have seen more people registering with doctors and paying council tax in Westminster, so WE FAIL TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE GOVERNMENT STATISTICIANS CAN BE SO WRONG.”

The Mail added:

“Hundreds of thousands of migrants have ‘disappeared’ at the stroke of a pen under A NEW OFFICIAL COUNTING SYSTEM. The method has led to apparent large falls in the numbers of migrants thought to live in London and other major cities. The change has provoked fury among council leaders who say THE IMMIGRANT POPULATIONS OF THEIR DISTRICTS HAVE BEEN GROSSLY UNDERESTIMATED BY GOVERNMENT STATISTICIANS.

Westminster and Kensington in London, Manchester, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge are among places thought to have had their ESTIMATED POPULATIONS REDUCED BY MANY THOUSANDS by the Office for National Statistics.”

The ONS has fixed the stats on behalf of its paymasters, Colin.

Or, to put it another way, ‘government statisticians' have ‘grossly underestimated… the immigrant populations of their districts’ in order to make the Conservative ‘government’ look as though they are making good on their Manisfesto pledge to do something about immigration.