General Chat

David Cameron promised "no ifs, no buts" that net migration would fall to the tens of thousands by the time of the next election - but figures released today show it has gone up by nearly 78,000 in the last year.

Net migration to the UK rose to 260,000 in the year to June - an increase of 78,000 on the previous year.

According to the figures, 583,000 people immigrated to the UK in the last year - an increase of 45,000 from the EU and 30,000 from outside.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30224637

What excuses will the Prime Minister come out with for his governments total failure to even come near keeping his promise and who will he blame - do you think he will blame himself or his government ;-)

Please note this is not about what your views on immigration are - it is about political spin and another broken promise - thanks :-)

Well, it definitely won't be "his" fault - nothing ever is!!

Kath. x

'Soaring growth in UK's population is almost entirely fuelled by migrants'.

(Migration Watch UK).

There's not a lot he.....or any other Party for that matter..... can do about the immigration from the EU.
They have every right to come here as does any British Citizen to live and work in other EU countries.

An extract from the speech David Cameron made in April 2011 when he talked about immigration;-

"This time last year, we said we would listen to people's concerns and get immigration under control.

Today I can confidently say that we are getting there.

If we take the steps set out today, and deal with all the different avenues of migration, legal and illegal, then levels of immigration can return to where they were in the 1980s and 90s, a time when immigration was not a front rank political issue.

And I believe that will mean net migration to this country will be in the order of tens of thousands each year, not the hundreds of thousands every year that we have seen over the last decade.

Yes, Britain will always be open to the best and brightest from around the world and those fleeing persecution.

But with us, our borders will be under control and immigration will be at levels our country can manage - No ifs. No buts.

One has to wonder just how much humble pie can one man eat ;-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13083781

So,,,is GH right in his assumption?,,,,,,, by the mass, ;-) :-D :-D.

I prefer not to comment on any of GH's assumptions, however I find the comments by Norman Smith the assistant political editor for the BBC interesting - he said the figures were "deeply, deeply significant" and "deeply awkward for David Cameron" and he added that far from getting anywhere near the Conservatives target, "immigration is now actually higher than Labour left it".

Opps! Sorry lessons will be learned, vote for us again and we will do it all better next time ;-)

'Tis a lesson you should heed:
Try, try, try again.
If at first you don't succeed,
Try, try, try again'.

(Proverb).

# Next year, let's all vote for insanity.

Well my extended family are a hotch potch of English, Irish, Scots, French, Belgian Huguenots, Russians, Latvians, Germans, Swedes, Poles, the West Indies dated back from the here and now to over 300 years. They have also planted themselves in USA, Canada, South Africa, Thailand, France, Spain, Argentina, NZ, Australia and Dubai. It sure makes family history interesting.

I have no idea why there is all this fuss about immigration. 99.9% of the immigrants come here either as a result of persecution or to work. Personally I would allow people from Oz, NZ, Canada to come to the UK with no restriction other than a visa to bar criminal types and Australian MPs. It is absurd to regard people from these three states as from "furrin parts".

It is easy to see that poor / overstressed social services may be blamed on immigration - blaming "Johnny Foreigner" has always been a standby of British politics.

Cameron is an ass he never seems to read the label on the tin. Since Day 1 The EU (EEC as was) had on the cover (a) free movement of people - no restrictions and (b) ever closer political union. It was never a "common market". His "solemn promise" was void from the moment he made it. Thus he is either a scurrilous liar or utterly incompetent. He would do better to spend energy on extending the Single Market to services on which progress has been abysmal.

He will never ever get any changes at all of any kind in the Treaty Farage is right in that. Also he will not be able to establish different levels of social benefits for "residents" and "newcomers". ANy attempt to do so will fall foul of the EU Law.

As it is the "Habitual Residency Test" introduced by Labour has suffered several defeats and is part of an ongoing battle with the EU which UKGov is likely (certain) to lose. What does he think would happen to over 2 million Brits living in other parts of the EU? Spain and France for starters would soon put up the shutters.

It shows the foul wind which is blowing that Clegg feels bound to sign up to UKIP policies and even Labour are promising what cannot be delivered.

Leave ? Switzerland and Norway have had to sign up to most of the free movement rules in order to access the Single Market. They avoid EU contributions but have had to accept 99% of the rules without any voice at all, "government by fax" as Norway puts it. UK EU payments look massive but are in fact a tin part of total UK spending.

When all the political leaders feel bound to follow the leading monkey no wonder there is no trust or confidence in any of them.

Cameron, like many other politicians of all persuasions, has a habit of opening his mouths before putting his brain in gear, liar - well that's why he is an expert juggler ;-)

Cameron's mouths? Hydra headed monster ?
Well there's a thought.

from a remote island

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kedhGXD0_ZA

:-D :-D :-D

This morning the Prime Minister David Cameron made his latest speech detailing his proposals to tackle immigration, the main proposals in his speech, proposals he promises to pursue if he is still prime minister after the general election on 7th May 2015 - are:-

Stopping EU migrants from claiming in-work benefits, such as tax credits, and getting access to social housing for four years

Stopping migrants claiming child benefit and tax credits for children living outside the UK

Removing migrants from the UK after six months if they have not found work

Restricting the right of migrants to bring family members into the UK

Speeding up deportation of convicted criminals

Longer re-entry bans for beggars and fraudsters removed from the UK

Stopping citizens from new countries joining the EU from working in the UK until "their economies have "converged more closely" with existing

Saying you will do something and actually being able to do it are not the same things, first he has to win the next election, then he has to convince the other 27 member states to agree to his proposals - I do not believe that he will achieve the latter. The prime minister has also warned that the future of Britain in the European Union is at stake should he not get these and the other reforms he is seeking.

Just my opinion, as I accept that there are many who have their own views about the EU, but my view is that I think that a "give me what I want or else stance" is an approach that could damage UK business confidence, damage inward investment from other countries, damage the UK's status on the world stage, and affect the livelihoods of many UK citizens - not only in the UK but also those living and working in other EU member states.

He may want to be St George and slay the dragon, however the dragon is not the issue of the EU & immigration, the dragon he needs to slay has two heads - UKIP & the Tory Eurosceptics, to that end he should stop using the EU as a scapegoat for the problems he faces from those in his own party and UKIP - and start behaving like a statesman putting the best interests of the country before these.

I still can't work out how people in this country, with children in a EU country can get Child Benefit from this country :-S

If the above are his 'promises' for the future, one assumes they're things that need sorting. In which case, why hasn't he already taken action?
It's no good saying 'If you vote me in, in the future, I'll do this and that'.

He is, after all the Prime Minister NOW.


I'm sure, any 'normal' worker who gave promises about doing their work in the future, if their boss (and we are after all his 'boss' - some people voted for him) did this and that for them, would soon be shown the door!!

I think in normal parlance, it's called blackmail. Mild blackmail, but blackmail nevertheless.

Most of the Guff he comes out with are Soundbites for the masses, hoping they will believe him and re elect him.If he carries on the way is going, he,s got no chance.**M** :-S

Cameron's latest proposals on immigration are a sharp pull back from the various kites which have been flown and shot down. Moreover the latest ideas have not the faintest chance of gaining the necessary support in the EU.

The proposals are not practical. How on earth would they be enforced ? The Borders Agency is not able to control illegal immigrants with absolutely no right to be in the UK. How on earth it would chase EU citizens goodness knows. All a citizen has to do is take a day trip to Dover and voila new arrival new 6 months ... How would UK Borders deal with a UK citizen married to a citizen from elsewhere in the UK ? What about children born in the UK but with one or both parents from the RestOfEU.

It seems to escape the imagination of Hampshire residents that there are over one million Brits living and working in the EU (apart from retirees). It may come as a shock to some of them that a lot have complicated lives bridged between the UK and RestOfEU esp Benelux and Germany with kids resident in the UK claiming, for instance, German child benefit. IT IS A TWO WAY STREET !!!

It is the Tories under Margaret Thatcher who were so gung ho to sign up eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet bloc. Now they are welching on the inevitable consequences.

These are two positive things that UKGov could and should do which would make a massive difference.

(a) pursue the extension of the single market to services as well as goods - progress on this in the past ten years has been near zero; the Germans are the principal obstacle though Austria, Spain, Italy and France are major blockers.

(b) the EU should make extensive reforms of the anemic and corrupt economies of eastern Europe which would generate economic growth and reduce the need to emigrate. As it is nothing is done and Hungary for instance has become a near dictatorship.

So let's be clear Cameron is either a deluded idiot or a consummate liar when it comes to the EU.

Will these trivial proposals change EU immigration levels ? No.
Will they fix the UKIP grabbing Tory votes problem? No.
Will they help the Tories win votes in Tory marginals with a lot of families with RestOfUK members and a GElection vote ? No.
Will they gain friends and influence in Brussels ( such as it is ) ? No.

OK then let's leave the EU and go for the Norway deal.
Guess what Norway & Switzerland has had to sign up to free movement of labour ...

duh.

Will the Tories get the required majority in the 2015 election ? Very unlikely.
If (if ) there was a referendum on the EU would the vote be to leave ? Very unlikely.

Farage's comments are all correct. It is not possible to have one set of rules for UK citizens and another for the others. Labour also seem not to understand this hence the never ending rows about the "Habitual Residency Test".

It is what Farage does not say. A free trade only agreement with the EU still leaves the UK having to sign up to such things as free movement, fishing, law cooperation etc etc.

Madness.

One thing I did not read anything about in his speech, correct me if I am wrong, was that he did not say anything about companies operating their businesses here in the UK and who advertise vacancies in various EU countries in preference to advertising the vacancies in the UK - some of these businesses will probably contribute to the Tory party's coffers ;-)

OFitG-
NEXT is a case in point.
Next, run by Conservative peer Lord Wolfson, has taken on 7,000 staff from Poland to work at the company's warehouse in South Elmsall in West Yorkshire. This is before the jobs are advertised in this country.
There are 200,000 unemployed in this area.

This is from the Daily Fail - normally Tory supporters.

See this link Maggie,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11139515/600000-a-week-paid-out-in-child-benefit-to-parents-overseas.html

It says for example that they get 4 times the child benefit they would get in Poland. Who wouldn't want that...... it's our soft welfare system........again!