Attacks on Poles 'fuelled by the BBC's coverage of immigration'

Published on Wednesday 4 June 2008 22:32

THE BBC has been accused of fuelling attacks on Poles by exploiting them to highlight immigration rather than using other ethnic minority arrivals for fear of being branded racist.

The criticism was made by Daniel Kawczynski, a Conservative MP of Polish extraction.

He highlighted his concerns in the Commons when he introduced a bill calling for a bank holiday to mark the positive contribution Poles have made to the UK since 1940. It has little chance of becoming law.

His claims were strongly denied by the BBC, which has insisted its coverage has been balanced and pointed to a lack of statistics to prove his claims of sustained assaults on Poles.

However, echoing remarks he had made earlier in the day on the BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Kawczynski told a Commons' debate:

"The liberal elite of the BBC constantly refer to immigration from Poland because they are using the Polish community as a cat's paw to try to tackle the thorny issue of mass unchecked immigration.

"They realise immigration needs to be discussed and has become uncontrolled, but they don't dare refer to controversial immigration from other (areas]."

The Shrewsbury and Atcham MP added: "I have many cases of an increase in violence towards Poles in this country and I am convinced (it] is as a result of the media coverage by the BBC."

A spokesman for the BBC said: "These are serious allegations and there was no evidence given in Mr Kawczynski's interview to back them up.

"To say the BBC doesn't run stories about other immigrant groups and simply concentrates on the Poles is not true. For instance, recently there has been coverage of other eastern European migrant workers in the fruit-picking industry and a report on the routes taken by immigrants from West Africa into Europe and the UK."

Mr Kawczynski's claims were also disputed by the Federation of Poles in Great Britain.

Viktor Moszczynski, the group's spokesman, said it had more problems with tabloid newspapers which used Polish migration to launch a sustained "anti-European" agenda.

PROFILE

AT 6ft 8in, Daniel Kawcynski is the tallest MP to sit in the House of Commons.

His relatives came to Britain in 1940 after Germany invaded Poland.

He was brought up in Surrey before studying business, French and Spanish at Stirling University, where he met his wife, Kate. The couple now have a daughter.

The 35-year-old worked in telecommunications for ten years as an international account manager, travelling extensively in Europe, the Middle East and Africa before taking the seat of Shrewsbury from Labour in 2005.

A member of the right-leaning Cornerstone Group, Mr Kawcynski is removed from the "Cameroons" running the Conservative Party.

Mr Kawcynski recently chased and caught two shoplifters who tried to take ten shirts from a menswear shop in London.