Mr Mayor, Councillors, Ladies and Gentlemen and friends,
The Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Federation of Poles both apologize for not being able to attend today and have asked me to make comments on their behalf and on behalf of the Federation of Poles in GB. The Federation is the umbrella group which includes the main secular Polish organizations in this country (such as the Polish Social and Cultural Centre, the Polish Education Society and the Ex-Combatants Association) and is often viewed as the voice of the Polish community.
The Polish community in this country, and especially in London, is actually a hybrid including many elderly Poles who remained as war veterans and political exiles after WWII, as well as their children and grandchildren, and also the later arrivals throughout the sixties, seventies and eighties. They have left their mark on London: the Sikorski Institute in Kensington, the Polish Library in Hammersmith, the Polish War Memorial in Northolt, the Sikorski statue in Portland Place and numerous Polish churches. They are often well settled now and could be a model of how a minority can be integrated into British society without losing its cultural identity.
In the last 6 years we have seen new arrivals in this country, overwhelmingly young and single, often well educated, encouraged by the Government's generous decision to allow new EU citizens access to filling the skills shortage in the UK labour market. This has largely paid off as the CEBR estimate that Poles contribute £4bn per year to the British economy, leaving aside income from taxes. At least one third of that would benefit the London economy.
Figures vary but we estimate that there are at least 150,000 Poles within the Greater London area of whom, according to surveys, some 50% are now likely to stay longer The fact that there are some 55,000 Polish electors in London (which is nearly half the electorate of a London Borough like Richmond), 8000 Polish-speaking children in London state schools, nearly 70,000 paying national insurance and nearly 60,000 on the increasingly unpopular Worker Registration Scheme are further evidence that many are considering a long term stay. The majority of these would have prospered sufficiently to feel they can lay down roots here.
Consequently a Polish archipelago is appearing all over London, not only in traditional Polish areas like Ealing, Hammersmith, Brent and Wandsworth but in new areas where there was no established Polish organization, such as in Haringey, Barnet, Lambeth, Southwark and Newham. Within these scattered Polish enclaves we see a mushrooming of Polish delicatessens, as well as Indian shops and eventually the big supermarket giants selling Polish food. We have 12 Polish Saturday schools, five weeklies, one daily and 3 radio stations, while Polish Catholic churches have become the envy of their other religious neighbours with their packed church congregations lustily singing Polish hymns. Polish rock concerts take place regularly in various London town halls. There are now Polish professionals in the NHS, in accountancy and in the City of London; the high street banks are in sharp competition for the so-called Polish pound and few London eating establishments are without at least one Polish waitress.
On the flipside, we recognize that there are undoubted social strains emanating from the increased Polish presence here. They arise from increasing sharper competition in the job market and the growing need for local government and health services to find the extra resources for London schools, health clinics, housing trusts, police and social services. May we remind you that Polish workers make a substantial contribution towards those costs with their council taxes but this does not alleviate the problem entirely. The return of free English language lessons and courses on the British way of life is a necessity in order to aid in the integration process.
There is also a minority, not an insignificant one and certainly a very visible one, but still a minority, who have failed to make a success of their stay. Often without language skills, unable to adapt to London's bracing market economy and high cost of living, they live in squalor in multi-occupational houses sometimes seven to a room, or even on the streets, have low paid jobs, even below the minimum wage, and much of the time they are without a job at all. Their presence requires compassionate but resolute coordinated solutions, both by British authorities (national and local), charitable institutions, Polish organizations in this country and in Poland.
Though the London public and the national media reacted initially to this new Polish presence with generosity of spirit, praising Polish plumbers and bar staff, we know that some of these social problems do cause a strain and there have been instances of discrimination and even violence of a racial nature towards Poles. These have been egged on by extremist organizations and by irresponsible media sensationalism often fuelled by the wish to settle political scores with the British government or the European Union. We hope that you will monitor these examples along with us in the same spirit as you would monitor discrimination towards any other kind of minority.
Both the older community and the new are now Londoners. We are all part of the social fabric of this splendid capital city. We want good schools, good hospitals, good public transport like every other Londoner. We enjoy the cultural splendours and endure the vicissitudes of commuter travel and the fear of crime like every other Londoner. During the July 7th bombing outrage 3 young Polish women were killed, the largest contingent of foreign nationals among the victims. We are here for the good and the bad times; more part of the solution than part of the problem.
Mr Mayor, we know and appreciate your concern over inclusiveness of London's many and varied minorities. We for our part do not want to live in a Polish ghetto. We are anxious that the new Polish intake which seeks to settle here can find increasing prosperity for themselves in a harmonious environment.
We thank you for your invitation and look forward to future cooperation and understanding between the Polish communities in London and the Greater London Authority.
Thank you.
