OK, I get the idea that you want to limit benefits to migrants. They haven't done anything in this country to earn the money, so why should they get it as soon as they arrive ? Makes sense, though I am not saying I agree with it. Practically all studies find that migration improves the economy; the amount of "benefit tourism" is massively exaggerated by certain right-wing groups. In short, we can afford it.
But this part I simply don't understand at all :
"Stopping citizens from new countries joining the EU from working in the UK until "their economies have "converged more closely" with existing members."
What in God's name does that mean ? The political right suffers from a bizarre "wealthism", the notion that people with less money are somehow worse than you. It's absurd. I live in a country where the average salary is at or below minimum wage in the UK, and I assure you that most of my colleagues are much more intelligent than I am. People's skills don't correlate with how much they earn; even if they did, assuming that poor = talentless scrounger is stupid. It's pretty easy to assess people's qualifications, that's why we have, you know, universities and stuff.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-30224493
perfect, and just part of "problem", sorting country by country, split about this notion it will probably increase merely mechanically.
ReplyDeleteAnd in reality, migrants that start working start contributing to social security. Compare that to a citizen of that country that has lived there from birth. Till he starts working he will have spent money in both healthcare and education with no contribution. He will start having a net positive contribution to pay back much much later than a working migrant.
ReplyDeleteIn Germany, for example, the migrant flow has enabled the state to raise pensions to the elderly...
They are propagating a fallacy.
A nationalist, racist evil fallacy.
Most areas of the UK (29/37 statistical regions) are below the EU average GDP. The UK is only pulled up to above average overall by Inner London (the richest area in the EU, with over 3x the average GDP). Prague, incidentally, has a higher GDP than anywhere in the UK except Inner London. The Czech Republic as a whole has a higher GDP than West Wales.
ReplyDeleteOne major problem with Cameron's plan (even if his logic made sense, which it doesn't) is that the UK is not one of the rich countries of Europe. When he talks about the UK economy, he means the London economy - he should be concentrating on trying to get the rest of the UK to converge with London!
Edit: forgot the reference. Eurostat regional yearbook 2014: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/publications/regional_yearbook
Robert Minchin London is a cancer...
ReplyDeleteI presume he's talking more about salaries than GDP - average salaries in Prague are about half (or less) than those in the UK (average salary for the whole Czech Republic is... oh, never mind, here's a nice map :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage). In that sense, the UK is a rich European country - even in Cardiff, the average weekly wage is £480, compared to £220 for Prague (a city with a population about 5x greater). I'll go out on a limb and suggest that the high GDP of Prague is due to the 5 million or so annual tourists - the residents themselves aren't as wealthy as those in UK regions with lower GDPs.
ReplyDeleteIt's worth remembering that Cameron was proposing this long before UKIP had any political clout : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10517128/Stop-unrestricted-immigration-from-poor-EU-countries-David-Cameron-suggests.html
Though he can't bring himself to say it, he wants to stop people entering Britain for no other reason than they have less money.
"When he talks about the UK economy, he means the London economy - he should be concentrating on trying to get the rest of the UK to converge with London!"
Damn straight. The economics of London may be good for Britain overall (probably) but politicians rarely seem to do anything other than improving the City still further, rather than expanding in other areas.