Clegg shifts on immigration; have Britons become fearful of the wider world?

Mark the moment. The debate on mass immigration – a debate that began on June 22 1948, when the former German troopship Empire Windrush pulled into Tilbury dock carrying 500 “sons of empire” – is officially over. Consensus has taken its place.

Yesterday, The Guardian reported that Nick Clegg, in what the paper correctly identified as “a significant change of tone”, will this morning call for EU member states to begin to “put the brakes on” immigration from EU countries. A few hours later he will be followed by Labour’s work and pensions spokesman Rachel Reeves. Reeves will announce that her party is preparing to cut benefits for new migrants. “It isn’t right that somebody who has worked hard all their lives and has contributed to the system is entitled to only the same as somebody who has just come to this country,” she told The Sun on Sunday.

Both of these interventions follow last week’s article in this paper from the Prime Minister, in which he wrote of his Government’s new policy of “deport first, appeal later”. It was, he said, all part of his plan to build “a country that is not a soft touch”.

With Clegg’s surrender, the final domino has fallen. For the first time in over half a century each of the three major political parties will enter the election calling for curbs on immigration. The anti-immigration lobby, which at turns has counted such diverse figures as Enoch Powell, Margaret Thatcher, Frank Field, William Hague, Nick Griffin and Nigel Farage among its number, has won.

Lone Wolf wrote: 

I wouldn't know about Brit's in general, nor at large...

BUT Big Andy, Tess, VoD+, Smelly', Tess', Raggs, nicko, Tommy and Puzzler all seemed to have various issues at times..    

(Welfare "BENEFITS" is another matter again, though - if those same "migrants" came to Oz, they now have to wait more than two years to even get a look in..).

Nems wrote:I don't think Brits have become fearful of the wider world, they just want it to remain the wider world

nicko wrote:we could send them to oz,they have the room,wolf could put a few up .

nicko wrote:we could send them to oz,they have the room,wolf could put a few up .

Reducing immigration into the UK will have strong negative effects on the economy and would result in an income tax hike, a new study predicts.

The projections, contained within a paper published on Monday by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), are the result of academics modelling the current Conservative party migration target to reduce net migration "from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands". The research estimates that by 2060, UK GDP would be 11% lower than it would be otherwise.

The thinktank wrote: "Achieving [the Conservative] target would require reducing recent net migration numbers by a factor of about two ... The results show that such a significant reduction in net migration has strong negative effects on the economy. By 2060 the levels of both GDP and GDP per person fall by 11% and 2.7% respectively. Moreover, this policy has a significant impact on public finances. To keep the government budget balanced, the effective labour income tax rate has to be increased by 2.2 percentage points in the lower migration scenario."

The paper was part of a series of studies on the economics of migration that it says follows "recent policy changes [that] have made it significantly more difficult for skilled and highly-skilled workers, students and family members from outside the EU to migrate to the UK". Anna Rosso, a research fellow at NIESR, added: "The result has been a reduction in the pool of talent available to businesses in the UK. The long-term consequences are likely to be damaging."

Tommy Monk wrote:Rubbish.



High immigration is The cause of the problems, not the The solution....



It has increased cost of living while driving down wages.




Plus immigrants don't pay anywhere near enough in taxes to cover the additional costs of them being here.


£5-6,000 a year per child per school place alone is enormous negative impact.

Shady wrote:

nicko wrote:we could send them to oz,they have the room,wolf could put a few up .

Be careful what you say Nicko,because the last time I suggested that,I was accused of racism by the usual suspects.

veya_victaous wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:Rubbish.



High immigration is The cause of the problems, not the The solution....



It has increased cost of living while driving down wages.




Plus immigrants don't pay anywhere near enough in taxes to cover the additional costs of them being here.


£5-6,000 a year per child per school place alone is enormous negative impact.

ENGLAND has Very few Immigrants and has Economy that is Shit house so
Reality and Evidence say Your FULL OF SHIT.

IF Immigrants were bad why Are you so Shit???

IF Immigrants were bad why do nations like Australia and USA that take HEAPS more every years and already had heaps more to begin with Got so much more money and growth and so much stronger economies?

gerber wrote:I have been on record for years saying Scotland has huge areas of no population, hundreds of islands some uninhabited.  Why can't they all go there ?

Because they don't want too.  They can't beg from their own and their own have nothing to steal.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

gerber wrote:I have been on record for years saying Scotland has huge areas of no population, hundreds of islands some uninhabited.  Why can't they all go there ?

Because they don't want too.  They can't beg from their own and their own have nothing to steal.

Nobody goes to Scotland unless they want to disappear off the face of the earth. No offence, I'm just sayin'.

But come on, most of the world's immigrants are fleeing some hell-hole, would we be any different in their situation?

gerber wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

gerber wrote:I have been on record for years saying Scotland has huge areas of no population, hundreds of islands some uninhabited.  Why can't they all go there ?

Because they don't want too.  They can't beg from their own and their own have nothing to steal.

Nobody goes to Scotland unless they want to disappear off the face of the earth. No offence, I'm just sayin'.

But come on, most of the world's immigrants are fleeing some hell-hole, would we be any different in their situation?

In exceptional circumstances.  Problem is though the vast majority have crossed many borders on purpose to reach France and then get to England.  Why not stay in first safe country ?  

Heard on the wires this week though can't find a link a Somalia immigrant was arrested on a bus going to Belgium from Calais.  He was livid as he gotten on the wrong bus.  

Ben_Reilly wrote:

gerber wrote:

In exceptional circumstances.  Problem is though the vast majority have crossed many borders on purpose to reach France and then get to England.  Why not stay in first safe country ?  

Heard on the wires this week though can't find a link a Somalia immigrant was arrested on a bus going to Belgium from Calais.  He was livid as he gotten on the wrong bus.  

Well, Belgium's another of those places

Though still, for the most part, they're like you and me, right?

I still go back to the shit you hear Americans talking about Mexicans. Hell, my boss is Mexican and he's always been in my corner. I think it's just the bad people making the news. The good folks who go about living their lives as good people don't warrant headlines, but I think they make up the majority.

Either that or I still have much of my innocence to lose ...

Lone Wolf wrote: 

I wouldn't know about Brit's in general, nor at large...

BUT Big Andy, Tess, VoD+, Smelly', Tess', Raggs, nicko, Tommy and Puzzler all seemed to have various issues at times..    

(Welfare "BENEFITS" is another matter again, though - if those same "migrants" came to Oz, they now have to wait more than two years to even get a look in..).

Tommy Monk wrote:The countries of origin have plenty of room.


We don't want or need any more immigrants.



If people come here to work then they should work or return home.


Our previous work visa system should be reinstated.

Lone Wolf wrote: 

I wouldn't know about Brit's in general, nor at large...

BUT Big Andy, Tess, VoD+, Smelly', Tess', Raggs, nicko, Tommy and Puzzler all seemed to have various issues at times..    

(Welfare "BENEFITS" is another matter again, though - if those same "migrants" came to Oz, they now have to wait more than two years to even get a look in..).

Shady wrote:

Nems wrote:
I don't think Brits have become fearful of the wider world, they just want it to remain the wider world

It would help if the UK was a geographically larger nation,which would help accommodate more people.
But it's not & where are all of these extra people supposed to go?

veya_victaous wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:Rubbish.
High immigration is The cause of the problems, not the The solution....
It has increased cost of living while driving down wages.
Plus immigrants don't pay anywhere near enough in taxes to cover the additional costs of them being here.
£5-6,000 a year per child per school place alone is enormous negative impact.

ENGLAND has Very few Immigrants and has Economy that is Shit house so
Reality and Evidence say Your FULL OF SHIT.
IF Immigrants were bad why Are you so Shit???
IF Immigrants were bad why do nations like Australia and USA that take HEAPS more every years and already had heaps more to begin with Got so much more money and growth and so much stronger economies?

Ben_Reilly wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:
ENGLAND has Very few Immigrants and has Economy that is Shit house so
Reality and Evidence say Your FULL OF SHIT.
IF Immigrants were bad why Are you so Shit???
IF Immigrants were bad why do nations like Australia and USA that take HEAPS more every years and already had heaps more to begin with Got so much more money and growth and so much stronger economies?

Fuckin' A. The UK is hell-bent on making itself into a third-world country via racist anti-immigration sentiments.
I hate to see it happen to the pommies I happen to like here ... but hell, every country has to learn its lessons, mine and yours included. But especially mine, seeing as we here wield the power without wisdom ... I'm just cheering for (I hope you appreciate my attempt to speak Australian and not say 'rooting for,' which would be my natural expression) the good type who love their fellow human and are generous ... yeah, it's time for this song again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA1Hxqorgpw