Eastern Europe immigration
A report out tomorrow from the Home Office will apparently suggest that on acquiring its EU status vastly greater numbers of immigrants from Poland Hungary and other eastern European countries arrived than were expected.
What did the government expect? Immigration results from differences in living standards and there is a big enough gap between those in the new EU states and the old ones to encourage large numbers to try their luck.
What should concern the government now are the vast numbers of Romanians who will shortly be following in their footsteps.
Living standards in Romania are far below those in next door Hungary and tens of thousands are chomping at the bit to get out. As soon as its membership of the EU is concerned they will make for Britain where they will take jobs that should be done by British workers and push down wages for everyone at the bottom end of the employment ladder.
They will soon find that Britain is a treasure island when it comes to a range of benefits from child allowances (even for children back in Eastern Europe) to the NHS not to mention a range of fringe benefits such as being able to insist that cash strapped local authorities translate every trivial document they produce into your native tongue.
Rather than debate immigration from Eastern Europe or elsewhere in rational matter the political left prefer to shout “racism.” No doubt any reading this will do so. My response to them is that I personally am married to Hungarian and our children are being brought up bilingually. We fly to Hungary several times a year and (unlike many immigrants to the UK) I have made an effort to learn the language so that I can “integrate” when we are there.
My issue is one of practicalities no prejudice. If we encourage vast numbers to leave their homes and come to the UK we will damage the economies of the countries they leave behind, we will undermine the public services of the towns where they congregate, we will be handing a blank cheque to unscrupulous employers who want to pay the lowest possible wages and we will stoke up prejudice from British citizens who are unable to find work because their jobs have been taken by new arrivals.
This is not a situation that any true friend of Eastern Europe could possibly want to see and pointing this out is not racism but plain common sense.
What did the government expect? Immigration results from differences in living standards and there is a big enough gap between those in the new EU states and the old ones to encourage large numbers to try their luck.
What should concern the government now are the vast numbers of Romanians who will shortly be following in their footsteps.
Living standards in Romania are far below those in next door Hungary and tens of thousands are chomping at the bit to get out. As soon as its membership of the EU is concerned they will make for Britain where they will take jobs that should be done by British workers and push down wages for everyone at the bottom end of the employment ladder.
They will soon find that Britain is a treasure island when it comes to a range of benefits from child allowances (even for children back in Eastern Europe) to the NHS not to mention a range of fringe benefits such as being able to insist that cash strapped local authorities translate every trivial document they produce into your native tongue.
Rather than debate immigration from Eastern Europe or elsewhere in rational matter the political left prefer to shout “racism.” No doubt any reading this will do so. My response to them is that I personally am married to Hungarian and our children are being brought up bilingually. We fly to Hungary several times a year and (unlike many immigrants to the UK) I have made an effort to learn the language so that I can “integrate” when we are there.
My issue is one of practicalities no prejudice. If we encourage vast numbers to leave their homes and come to the UK we will damage the economies of the countries they leave behind, we will undermine the public services of the towns where they congregate, we will be handing a blank cheque to unscrupulous employers who want to pay the lowest possible wages and we will stoke up prejudice from British citizens who are unable to find work because their jobs have been taken by new arrivals.
This is not a situation that any true friend of Eastern Europe could possibly want to see and pointing this out is not racism but plain common sense.
posted by David Davies AM at 11:58 AM
4 Comments:
Is the free movement of people, lowering wages and thereby bringing down the cost of enterprises not a central tenet of Tory faith?
Kind regards
Audrey Wylfing
http://frogend.blogspot.com/2006/08/visit-to-gypsies.html
Yet another pedantic Guardianista who forgets that you cannot have rights without responsibilities.
>child allowances (even for children back in Eastern Europe) <
Eh? What? I can understand Brown packing the vote here, but... Romania? Madness. And it's MY money!
Eastern Europeans are much better than Arabs!!! Clenbuterol
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