Just remind me what the official language of this Country is

The Mail reports that:

"One in seven primary school pupils does not speak English as a first language.

The number who normally speak a foreign language rose last year to 565,888 - 14.3 per cent of the total.

In some areas, English is a foreign language to more than 70 per cent of four to 11-year-olds, putting enormous pressure on teaching staff. And there are ten schools without a single pupil who has English as a first language, new figures show. "

"The soaring figures reflect the fact that immigration into the UK is now five times higher than when Labour came to power in 1997. Net immigration has increased from 48,000 that year to 237,000 in 2007. "

"In the London borough of Tower Hamlets, only 23 per cent of pupils speak English as their first language.

At one school, Nelson Primary in East London, three-quarters of pupils are not native English speakers and some 56 different languages are spoken."

And under the heading of "too little, too late" comes this:

"Communities Secretary Hazel Blears will tomorrow call for an 'honest debate' about the pressures that migration can put on local public services.

She will announce that anyone from outside the EU applying for a student or work visa will be required to pay a special tax levied on migrants.

The cash produced by this will go to local authorities who are currently struggling to cope with the impact of immigration on their schools, GP surgeries and other public services.

Ministers hope the tax will raise £70million over the next two years."