Mike, my state pension and your state pension are predicated on having enough tax payers to fund the state pension, in a very rapidly ageing country we need many many young tax payers to fund the system. As Andrew points out EU citizens contribute more than they take and I will bet you that the demographics of those immigrants are that they are mostly young people, exactly what any sane society would want. What we don't want is a geriatric country that is completely unable to support itself, but that is where we are largely heading along with most of the developed world in particular Japan. Our own families are crossovers all of us here have connections to a country where the demographics are very very different, but a very poor country all the same, however give them 20 years and the story could be very different where a young country in its prime becomes a big producer, you never know. Migrants taking UK jobs, well if the unemployed Brits wanted to compete they would, but they don't do they?
I used to have a Polish mate in the UK.. All his friends worked real hard and with the hours they put in earned good money...Cash. All of that money was sent back to their wive`s to build houses in Poland...The wives packed Polish sausages and big jars of sauerkraut in boxes and sent them over which they shared with their mates 8 to a room.. A distant family member of mine is renovating large dockland warehouses into posh flats..He pays cash to guys like this because they are cheap..Very cheap in fact.. None of them pay tax and none of them spend money in the UK economy...I dont blame them..I would do the same...How can Brits compete with that?? Of course they cannot. These are jobs that normally would go to Brits that need to work to earn money to pay mortgages and bills and support 2/3 kids etc.. When I was much younger we used to commute up to London to work as the money was good...These days,London would be the last place I would ever look for work.. Personally,I think its too late no matter what the UK decide to do..The gate has been open for too long.
And there lies a lot of the issues,which is greed, greed from the employers who use the labour to maximise profits,greed from the unemployed who can get more on the benefits than work,like you say we are perhaps to far down the line to redress,but we maybe able to stem the bleed.
Sorry Jim, but I don't agree with what you and Andrew think. Our country has been over-run with EU immigrants and we need to employ British people first. We should stop worrying about our old age and fix the country now. I have seen British people being squeezed out of jobs in the UK. I am tired of European immigrants swamping the system and they are coming in by the droves and it is getting worse. I want my kids, born in the UK, to be able to get jobs here when they grow up. IMO, we should use the Australian points system - I was subject to that when I went over there. Open borders without checks and balances must stop.
Some here claim that the EU is democratic, that our laws are passed by the European Parliament. That is only partly true as many of our laws and regulations come to us as European Directives issued by the Commission and have not received Parliamentary oversight. Democracy depends on exposure - the number of MEPs that represent British interests and here we are one of the most under-represented countries in the EU. Each of Britain's 73 MEPs represents around 890 thousand people. Let me put this into context for you. Each German MEP - and there are 96 of them - represents 839 thousand: a better ratio than for the UK. Each Irish MEP represents 409 thousand, each Spanish MEP has 621 thousand constituents and each Belgian MEP represents 509 thousand. Of the 28 member states, only France is as under-represented by MEPs as Britain. By contrast, each of Malta's 6 MEPs has around 71 thousand constituents, the best ratio in the EU (and each of its MPs represents just over 6 thousand). So which is more democratic - the European Parliament or Westminster? There are 650 Westminster seats making an average ratio of 1 MP for every 100 thousand of the population; almost nine times more democratic. Jim mentions pensions and claims that European migrant workers are necessary to fuel pensions - by which I assume he's talking about the state pension. The problem here is that migrant labour, most of it from eastern Europe, can be hired much more cheaply than home-grown and those migrants are pricing Britons out of the jobs market. They are also paying much less in tax, so we need many more of them to generate the same amount of taxation - increasing the pressure on schools, housing and the NHS - and so the spiral continues downwards. And that's ignoring the obvious language problems that add extra costs to employers and schools. Do you think it is fair that a parent from mainland Europe can claim UK Child Allowance at £20.50 a week for the first and £13.55 for each of his remaining absent children? No, nor do I and that won't change despite Cameron's vaunted claims, simply because the European Parliament will veto any measure that disadvantages those who exercise their "free movement" rights. Only four other countries - Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia and the Netherlands - pay Child Allowance for absent children. I'm not sure how anyone who is left of centre politically justifies being in favour of EU membership when the EU is anti-democratic, anti-working class and anti-socialism but is pro multinationals and big business and pro centralised control of the citizenry.
Points system is great, lets the bright people come to live in and work in the UK, the car washers and labourers who will all work for peanuts and take British jobs can stay at home. You don't need an economics degree to realise our schools, hospitals and public services are being overrun by common immigrants out to make a buck in the UK. Another thing, your common immigrant from eastern Europe looks a mess, you can spot one from a 100 metres away
In 10 years time that will be a fond memory when you have 50 of them 5 meters away! Best of luck with that!!
Not only that but there are many rented houses with three or more Eastern European couples living in one house so they can easily accept less in pay as they don't have to pay £700 a month rent. £116 a month each for 6 people. How can British people compete with that? There is a percentage of houses that are also kept just for migrants also, making it even harder for British to find a place to rent.
i trust boris more than meps,i dont trust torys,this is why i vote leave,plus we are united kingdom not europe,we were strong in 40s and 50s,and can be strong again,no other county has history like uk,churchill sure would not allow this,by the way boris is very smart,dont judge by cover,hes very intel,guy
David the point being at present we have border controls on mainland europe if we come out of the EU there is a possibility that these border controls will be lost and the only border controls will be in the UK.Once they have landed here how do we send them back and to where as many travel with no papers.Thus they have achieved their aim
I agree and have said as much on here before.. There has to be a clear strategy by the "out" campaign in case France does what it threatens to do....But what is it?? As I said before..This could amount to DDay X 10...In reverse... That`s not good,in fact it could be a catastrophic long term nightmare for "border control".
what we need is holding centres say on redundant battleships and moor them just north of Scotland or anywhere the water gets a tad choppy serve them tinned mushy peas and Tesco own chilli. Oh no the PC brigade will be upset
About the only solution I can think of is to relocate everyone on the Isle of wight to the mainland and make a new port of entry.. Serve all the newcomers Haggis.
