Immigration figures

[Qwertyipad]

The figures are going up by 40%. Am I the only one that wants a points system like Australia so we can protect low paid workers and fill are skill shortages.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

We've got a falling birthrate and an ageing population. I think if young people want to come and work here, whether skilled or not, we should welcome them.

[123motheroflove]

I think i

[123motheroflove]

I think we are full and need to seriously rethink are immigration policy. We have to many of are own and let alone 500mil and a open door policy under liebour

[Uptheairymountain]

What Cogito said. I'd like a pension in 30 or so years, thank you very much! Also no point mentioning Labour - the current immigration figures have got nothing to do with them, not after almost 5 years of the coalition. Not that I think the current level is necessarily a bad thing.

[WiseKneeHair]

I really can't be bothered.
But, no. I don't want s points system.

[crazykat]

I've said for a long time that immigration should be like Australia. There aren't enough jobs or homes for those already here never mind more people coming here. The NHS, schools and benefits are under huge strain as it is without adding more.

Something has to change and soon as the country can't cope with many more people.

[WiseKneeHair]

The NHS would ground to a halt without all the immigrants who work in it. Of course, they are taking jobs from British prople, aren't they? Despite the fact that most of the times when posts are advertised, no suitable Brits apply.
< bigger sigh>

[123motheroflove]

What is your objection to a points system. Lien our let in 2.5 million people of low skill non Europeans. Then when added with Eastern Europeans means that their is an abundance of people in low paid work pushing wages down for the poor which get hit hardest by the immigration policy we have.
We need a system of points taking skilled workers from around the world (not just Europe) like nurses, paramedics and doctors of whom we have shortages. I don't see how you can oppose this it makes most sense it helps us and them as well as protecting the low paid workers.

My Dh is an immigrant who came here 17 years ago and is now a doctor go . We benefit as a country from his skills and because you need a lot of skills to be a gp their is not a shortage of them.

[123motheroflove]

wisekneehair I'm not sure Brits don't want to do jobs I think the jobs with less skills required have had their wages pushed down by mass immigration.

[WiseKneeHair]

I'm not sure Brits don't want to do jobs I think the jobs with less skills required have had their wages pushed down by mass immigration.

I don't think immigration has anything to do with the crap wages in this country. You say the Brits don't not want to do jobs, then mention poor wages i.e. implying that they don't want those jobs

[123motheroflove]

Well if many people are doing cheap labour jobs it means you get a decrease. Basic economics supply and demand of their is lots of something it gets cheaper.
Theirs lots of aluminium so it's cheap their is not much gold so it's expensive

[DontGotoRoehampton]

May those immigrants know the difference bwtween 'our' and 'are', and 'there' and 'their'.

[123motheroflove]

Please note I'm typing while looking after 2 small lo,s 3,4 as well as doing the washing, dishing cooking and mumsnet. I passed a-level English just don't have concentration for mistakes. Was their any need for that pointless bitchy comment dontgotoroehampton.

[Thistledew]

We do have a points based system very similar to that in Australia. Points are awarded for level of education, work history and proof of financial self- sufficiency.

We can never put the genie of immigration back in the bottle. Not in an age where it is affordable for many people to get on an plane and move about the planet with ease. And not in an age when the Western world continues to fund its wealthy consumerist life style on cheap labour and goods from poorer countries.

Yes, we need a re-think on immigration, but we need to start thinking how to make it work for everyone, rather than just a wealthy, privileged elite. We need to make it work and to stop fearing it.

[Uptheairymountain]

Wisekneehair; are you referencing recent news stories like the sandwich shop one? That business isn't due to open until 2016 and who would really want to apply for a job that wouldn't start for over a year? That'd go down well at the job centre - yeah, I've got a job in a year or so, so I don't need to look for any more work, so do I just get my dole okay?

[WiseKneeHair]

Up no, I wasn't. I was thinking more about posts that have gone unfilled where I work (NHS) of both skilled and unskilled labour.

[Uptheairymountain]

Ah, my post came across as a bit shirty and I didn't mean it like that.

[123motheroflove]

It did crash me across as selfish as well I want a pension don't care who surfers or if there is logic

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Another reason I don't want too many restrictions on people from overseas is that at least they're willing to uproot themselves in search of a better life for their families, take a risk and make sacrifices in the process. They might start out in the low paid jobs because they don't have the natural advantages of British workers.... ie. A free education to age 16 and being native speakers of English.... but they overcome any handicaps & work their way up. We need more people with that kind of motivation, not fewer.

[WidowWadman]

People who are scared of immigrants are scared of people who make an active choice about building their lives. I find that such a bizarre attitude.

[Pixel]

I don't think immigration has anything to do with the crap wages in this country. You say the Brits don't not want to do jobs, then mention poor wages i.e. implying that they don't want those jobs confused

Well I don't know about you but I've got a family to house and feed. If I was able to share a house with 15 other people and have my children live in another country (while sending home child benefit to keep them) I'm sure I could afford to live much more cheaply and take a job with 'crap wages'. It's hardly a level playing field.

[WidowWadman]

You've got the same right to free movement as European immigrants coming here. What's stopping you?

[WitchesGlove]

If there isn't enough affordable housing or jobs available, the fairest way to solve this is to decrease the birth rate.

800,000 babies were born last year, far more than the immigrants that came.

Why do people want to make the problem worse by having children when they already know there aren't enough resources. There are enough people in the world already.

[niceguy2]

The rhetoric around immigration is crazy.

This country would grind to a halt tomorrow if we didn't have immigration.

Immigrants have simply been painted as the bogeyman now that many of us have forgotten about bankers who were the villians a couple of years back.

The fact is that immigrants bring a net benefit to this country.

The funny thing is that immigrants are apparently coming to this country to steal our benefits and steal our jobs.

Well which is it? Because they can't be doing both can they?

[shebird]

While I agree that there needs to be some system in place to keep control of things, I think we also need to recognise that we do need immigrants to come and do the jobs that many here just won't do.

Next is the latest company to hit the headlines for busing in lots of staff from Poland to work at their warehouse in busy periods in an area of high unemployment. But locals do not want these jobs. Why would they come off benefits for a few weeks work? So what are Next to do, let the company go down the pan during the busy Christmas period.