Thursday, August 24, 2006

Overwhelming open-door onslaught...

Seems to me that we can’t escape the obvious; it’s been obvious for a number of years but it is only now that it appears we are able to talk about it. I recall clearly the roasting William Hague and others got for having the nerve to mention the problem that dare not speak its name…immigration.



I touched on this
earlier in the month regarding the fact that 83% of the new housing that England “needs” would be for the increase in population due to immigration.



Now the
BBC tells us that “About 600,000 people have come to work in the UK from eight nations which joined the European Union in 2004, says Home Office minister Tony McNulty.”

The figures show those 427,000 migrant workers who successfully registered to work brought with them 36,000 dependents - spouses and children. Some 27,000 child benefit applications were approved




The government predicted there would be 15,000 people a year from the new EU member countries moving to the UK for work.
The question that strikes me is how can these people just seem to turn up and get benefits? 36,000 dependants….27, 000 child benefit applications approved, I presume that the other 9 thousand are mothers – all with 3 children each? Am I wrong to assume that? Now these immigrants will have zero or very little NI payments…I paid my NI every month when I was working abroad, I even made a mistake and paid DOUBLE NI for several years but when I returned to the UK in 1996 I was told that I couldn’t receive ANY benefit AT ALL for at least 6 months and even then it would depend on what savings I had. So turn up as a foreigner and collect straight away…pay your dues for years on end (without using any service because you live abroad) and you get zilch???



Now the government claims it’s good for the nation, they all pay their way etc…seems not:
here
are all the calculations… and their apparent results. However:



Conclusion



51. The Government has repeatedly claimed, in support of their policy of encouraging large-scale immigration, that migrants make a positive fiscal contribution of £2.5 billion a year. This report shows that central claim to be false.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said the case for restrictions for Romanians and Bulgarians was now "unanswerable".



Former Labour minister Frank Field the number of migrants was unmanageable and made it increasingly difficult for local people to get jobs.



MIGRATION SINCE 2004

Accession countries: 427,000

(About 600,000 including self-employed)

Dependants: 36,000

Non-EU settlement: 318,330

Granted asylum: 123,000

Non-EU work permits: 261,235, plus 87,000 dependants

Total: 1,425,565

Source: Home Office


AGE OF REGISTERED WORKERS: 92% between the ages of 18 and 44.

(Source: Accession monitoring report May 2004 - June 2006)




Alarming, no? …more from the BBC HERE
, and these figures does not even include people from the existing EU countries (Ireland, France, Germany etc…) who may have moved to live in the UK over those two years. And…there’s more, by definition it does not include illegal immigrants.



Now, having said all that this does not mean that the UK's population will have increased by this amount since May 2004 as there have also been people leaving the UK…how many…err…well there’s 119,000 British people moved abroad in 2004, according to the latest available figures…and …err…there are no figures given for the numbers of people given the right to work in the UK who have since left…but I think we all know that it’s not enough! All the figures have been reported in all the media, this isn't just a 'right-wing' press scare story. Here's the reports from The
Guardian and The Independent
.



The government must stand its ground. EU enlargement is good for the EU and good for Britain - both in economic and political terms. Intra-EU migration is vital for the efficient use of EU labour. It is also a fundamental right of EU membership.
Migrant Jobs



This last from the Financial Times…but I just do not understand how they can keep claiming that it’s good. Looking at the graph below all of those jobs will be on or near minimum wage; if all those thousands of employers know that the minimum wage is MUCH more than those workers would get in their native countries they know the workers will not leave or worry about earning much more, thereby maintaining wages at a false low and intentionally or not discouraging ‘home grown’ workers who know damn well they cannot afford to live on the minimum wage.



For all the details read the Home Office report published 22 August 2006 [link] (PDF)


21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Spot on, Span, I remember people screaming "racist" at William Hague as well.

Linda Mason said...

I'm not worried. I don't remember but I would imagine that people were making the same sort of observations and worse in the 60's and we got through it because actually the rate of such immigration never remains constant or at such a high level. Historically there have always been massive peaks only for things to settle down again.

If the jobs were not here and easily available people wouldn't come. I accept that there are worries about wages perhaps being kept low because of the ease of which workers can be found but you know I am not entirely convinced by that argmument. Things tend to even out over the long term and lets be grateful we have a minimum wage (many were against it because it meant that jobs would be lost - funny that, it disn't happen) or these jobs would be paying out £2 an hour.

Span Ows said...

Thank you curmy.

Mags,...the 60's?...since the 50's the WORLD population has DOUBLED. The "observations" re immigration to the UK was made about figures of 15 to 20 thousand...it is now more than 10 (TEN) times that. The massive peaks you mention don't even register on a graph with the current peaks...they are as pimples to an ample breast.

The jobs are here so they come...they come so the jobs are here (see the dilemma) many companies employ ONLY these immigarnts knowing full well they can get away with less money in wages. A case in point in Plymouth (I think) where 2 or 3 local taxi firms have closed because the people can't make the money to live because there is not enough business...in the same city...in the same month a firm is hiring in Prague...not Czech's in the UK, not in the local shop-window or Job centre...in PRAGUE...to bring czech drivers over!!!???

Things cannot "even out" unless a million jobs miraculously appear or unless a million people miraculously disappear.

"minimum wage...jobs would be lost...didn't happen"...then what are we discussing here?

Linda Mason said...

Span, these latest figures show the largest number of immigrants to enter in one year since 1962, hence my reference to the 60's. Surely a far more noticeable thing in the 60's when the same number of people arriving now, arrived then in a much smaller overall population. And it DID even out, so tell me why it shouldn't again?

Anonymous said...

Span, doesn't your son get his GCSE results today ? and isn't it your birthday ?

Span Ows said...

"Span, these latest figures show the largest number of immigrants to enter in one year since 1962"..??? eh? Please elaborate...I've had a bit to drink and this looks like bunkum...

Curmy, yes it is I'm 44...Jack got all B's (does that mean he's a complete thicko by today's standards? - I got the impression that he did rather well but he's not happy)

Span Ows said...

Sorry, I keep remembering things...

a) I've had blog/browser/html poblems which will expalin any strange goings-on you may have noticed.

b) the mauve line in the graph is heading upwards...2004 it was 60/70,000 but obviously that doesn't include the newest figures...the ones I posted about. Also that graph doesn't include illegals now estimated by government at over half a million...

c) at last! It's pissing with rain here :-)

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Span ! (Big Hug)you poor old man ! (I'm older than you)
I think your son's done very well, say congrats from me.
I expect you'll have a terrible hangover in the morning

Span Ows said...

Hello again curmy! and thanks...although now it's past midnight here... :-( ...and I hope I'm not being too grumpy with Mags.

As you may have guessed I'm all on my lonesome here but have spoken with all the kiddiewinks and my ex and my mother and my sister this evening (bro's out)...they sang happy birthday and the "dear daddy/david was interspersed with fatty...grrrrr :-)

...and I've been promised a cake and dinner (made by the 2 youngest) when I return (next month)

P.S. Despite lack of typos I have now hit the rum...maybe the secret of good typing is to have a certain amount of alcohol in the bloodstream.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Span - don't worry about being too grumpy with Mags - She's a tough 'un and wouldn't worry about being too grumpy with you!

Unpalatable as it may be to some you do raise some relevant points.

Anonymous said...

Sorry you're by yourself, Span, I thought you'd be out with your Spanish friends.
Have a lovely time when you go home.

Linda Mason said...

Span, it isn't your birthday there but it is here. However because you're being a grumpy sod and failing to grasp simple english I have a conundrum. Oh sod it, Happy birthday old man.

Last time there such a large increase in the UK population in a very short time was 1962, the year of your birth and possibly the reason why you are having trouble with this because you do not wish to acknowledge your own contribution to the population explosion of 1962! Now granted some of the population rise was down to the tail end of the baby boomers, you included, however much of the population increase came from their being a larger than usual increase in immigrants that year.

Comprendez?

One should also remember that the 60's proved to be contentious due to the likes of Powell and his ilk raising similar sort of concerns ( and as I said, worse) back in the 60's. Just like then, we will not in the long term be swamped. Many of those that have arrived from Eastern Europe are here for the short term, a couple of years at most. Bit like all those Ozzies I used to work with in London. Some stayed 12 months, others 5 years. Most had a right to a UK passport by virtue of a British born Grandparent BUT they all went home eventually. So will the eastern Europeans. That's why I am not worried and refuse to be whipped up into an unnecessary frenzy over something that will in time resolve itself.

BTW, I find all of this concern about immigration and the UK deliciously ironic considering you are an emigrant!

The Great Gildersleeve said...

Happy Birthday Span(David)I can say that because its still Thursday over here.

Always something funny or worth reading and thinking about on your site. And no, I've been reading.

We've had fun with the neighbours again ;-)The other week after being locked out, last night the taps went wrong and we were without water so what will be the third thing...they say things happen in three's.

I may very well add a comment on some previous entries if they have not past by and we've moved on...

I think your son has done very well and B's should still mean that he can impress an employer. Who really knows what they want to do as soon as they leave school and I think a few years between school and work is ok.

But with all the pressure that's put on teenagers by Government and business its getting harder to be an individual.

Considering that people today can expect to be working longer with the retirement age being raised, perhaps a year or so to decide and do something as a congratulations for the hard work put in has to be a good thing.

Hopefully, I'll be popping in again more regularly again...

Yes, the point about Nolan is especially relevant when he does the night phone-ins, you ain't missing anything.

What Steve Allen says is tongue in cheek and obviously so but its done so well(he's been on LBC for around 27 years)The difference comparing the two is so marked and yet...someone keeps awarding Nolan these Sony awards.

How important are awards to do with the media anymore?

Anonymous said...

Mags - I'm at a loss as to how you can compare 1962 with 2006!

Span Ows said...

P.S. I forgot to mention, Mags, the irony is not lost on me :-)

Span Ows said...

Cllr. GA (I'll call you that so as not to confuse you with 'our' Gavin)

Thanks for the visit and the welcome -I've left a comment re the 1 in 60 as regards Spain.

Paul said...

A taxi firm in Plymouth is actually hiring drivers from Prague because it can't find drivers for Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights. Apparently the drivers make so much money Monday-Thursday down in ambrosia country that they won't work weekends.

The same is happening in Inverness. Libby Purves in the Times said it was a victory for the Czechs and another example of how we are actually failing in this country.

Paul said...

Span,

On another (but related) subject - why are postings to Iain Dale's site premodded? (It's rhetorical really I don't expect the answer) - don't the right wing believe in free speech any more than the left?

Span Ows said...

Paul, thanks for all your comments today - when I looked at my inbox I actually thought it was one message received several times, which often happens in this techno world. Re teh Czech point I agree entirely, I ahve nothing against them making the best of what they've got and earning more elsewhere...as Mags says it's ironic because I myself am a migrant in another country (my 4th to date!) 'selling my wares' to the highest bidder.

Re the pre-modding, on my 'blog-travels' it's not uncommon. I don't think he actually cuts out comments (does he, I don't know?). You or I could put comment-moderation on ours...perhaps you could test it and psot him a message giving him a good slagging - I couldn't possibly do it! ;-)

Paul said...

Span,

He's posted it - I didn't really think he was on some Stalinst crusade against loony left wing Hammers fans!

Anonymous said...

I pre-mod too -- it's all to do with the amount of spam I get otherwise!