Mass Immigration, scare mongering??

[Flickstix]

Am I being unreasonable to think it is a problem or am I just falling prey to media propaganda? The whole EU debate seems to have highlighted it but I would like to understand it better.

I'm not sure putting 'without sounding racist' changes how you sound, TBH.

How do you know they're 'foreign' as opposed to 'British but not the same colour as me' or 'British but speak another language'? Do you ask every single one of them?

I go into my corner shop and see a pakistani man working I talk to my neighbour and I hear a polish accent I think putting 'without' sounding racist really cuts it tbh,

Maybe things have changed Mrs De Vere but my mum wouldn't lie about it. Perhaps it depends where you live. This was one of the London Boroughs.

However, Mrs De Vere I think it is great what you do. must be very hard for families with disabled children.

'They are definitely foreign, in this town there is also high rates of crime.'

Are you serious?

"Without sounding racist"

Well, you failed there.

Britons do go and live if not in Roumania, then at least in France, Spain, Germany, Sweden etc. We have Mumsnetters in that position, even.

Other European countries also deal with the same immigrants, the same refuges, the same discussions over welfare and support. And quite a few European countries spend more on welfare than the UK.

But funnily enough, ime, they each think they're alone and "no other country does this".

I think we ought to adopt the same immigration regulations as Australia. To get our Australian visa to allow us to live there permanently (eventually) we had to jump through a lot of hoops.
We both had to pass medicals and have chest X-rays to ensure we would'nt be an immediate drain on the Australian healthcare system.
We had to prove competence in in the English language.
We had to gain points by having qualifications in particular occupations, where there were skill shortages.
We had to pay almost a thousand pounds to apply. This was non refundable even if your application is not successful.
We had to prove we could support ourselves financially, as we would be unable to claim any kind of benefits for two years.

charlearose Thu 24-Jan-13 12:35:12
"maybe with regards to immigrants claiming benefits if they could only claim the equivalent amount in the uk to what it is in there own country i.e. whatever the amount of benefit you get in Poland you get in the uk it wouldn't be so attractive and would "

So the UK would be obliged to pay out Swedish level benefits to me then?

Should they be obliged to provide subsidised childcare as well?

Mrs dv is right. Many many of these families are very poor. They live in substandard housing with poor diets and very little money. It's the educated workers who tend to buy their own house, get good jobs and live better lives. The families I work with have very little, and a lot of the poorer children are either malnourished or badly nourished through eating cheap Takeaways. The media uses mass immigration to scare no get without a doubt. But those that live in mixed communities have our own experiences to share.

I think it is a serious problem and we should be concerned. I'm not against immigration but we need to ensure there is enough suitable housing, schools and public services for everyone before admitting more people into the country. The numbers were seriously underestimated last time and 10 times more people came than was anticipated. I live in an area where lots of the recent immigrants settled and the strain on all the services has been immense.(ie. not enough reception school places this year, difficulty getting drs appointment, terrible antenatal services due to massive numbers of pregnant women, long waiting lists and lack of good social housing, 3 bed houses housing 8-10 adults) As a result there is a lot of tension from the locals towards all immigrants and it has become a very segregated population. A free school opened near me recently and 80% of the pupils there are the children of recent immigrants. A further 3 free schools have been proposed to meet the future demand for places.

I am glad to hear there are other countries paying more welfare than the UK.

As someone with no job (in a few weeks) and an existing medical condition I would like the heads up as to where the best place/country for me to go where I can get a house, benefits and free medical care? Would be good for me to compare there and here before I make my decision (and research further) as to where I should reside

I have about 6 weeks left in my job - maybe enough time to save for my airfare or ferry. I speak a little French, German and Spanish but will consider anywhere as there is FA to keep me here anymore.

I am seriously interested as i wont be entitled to very much here for several weeks according to the CAB.

dreamingofsun Thu 24-Jan-13 11:44:30

onemorechap - i don't understand how you think housing is a 'preceived' problem. 2 bed flats start at 150k where we live. How on earth can someone on an average salary afford to buy that?

And that's connected to immigration how, exactly?
The snide answer used to be "live somewhere else, then" but average house prices everywhere are ridiculous.

I'm on what I'd consider a good screw, and I'd struggle to buy a house on the old mortgage rules of 3 x first income = 2nd income.

Largely, Thatcher's "big idea" of flogging council houses and then preventing councils building more landed us in the kack.

onemorechap - thatcher was years ago, people can't keep harping back to her and blaming her for all the problems.

lack of new supply and increased house demand = high prices. so yes, the more people moving here = higher demand = higher prices. Or we increase supply and concrete over the south of england.

It is connected to immigration one more chap because there may have been more social housing available for people already here and not so much demand for housing whether bought or rented. Less housing to go round with more people arriving and needing to be housed.

Also the people who bought their council houses through MT's scheme did very nicely and I worked with some of them in the early '90's who were boasting about it. Meanwhile I had to buy my house at market price

the people arriving to the UK have families and their need is put first. Councils admitted this in the end even though they had been denying it for years. As I said earlier, if you go to a local council estate locally there are lots of immigrants there. They need to live somewhere

Everytime private houses are built some of it has to be allocated to social housing.

Mrs De Vere I take on board your points and it is easy to make snap judgements.

I just think we are full up and should sort out who is already here before allowing anyone else to come unless they have some money and have something to offer us and adopt the Australian system

Good god.

Immigration is responsible for house price inflation now?
Smaller families, divorce, both partners working, having to move for a job.

We're full up... and shouldn't have any more unless quite often has the unvoiced unless they're white and Christian

Yes, it's scare mongering.

alemci
the people arriving to the UK have families and their need is put first. Councils admitted this in the end even though they had been denying it for years.

OK, I'll bite. Give me a cite for that please.

I'm not great at linking and I am cooking dinner but Margaret Hodge discussed this issue in 2007 to do with Barking and Dagenham.

I am not saying that immigrants push house prices directly up but maybe there is more demand for people buying a house privately as they cannot get housed by the council anymore and they are having to do this buy taking on a huge mortgage. Of course there are other reasons as you stated as well

There is not enough housing for the people already here. There is just not enough of everything. Space, jobs, schools, hospital. It has to stop before we burst

The catering staff at my place of work in Lomdon are 90% polish. The cleaning staff are 100% black Africans.

Not sure why this should be, pay must be minimum wage at least and would have thought there were plenty of English people who would want to work in the canteen who haven't currently got jobs.

No real point to this post. I just find it odd that nearly all the canteen staff are polish, almost like the catering company specifically targets them.

"We prioritise the needs of an individual migrant family over the entitlement others feel they have. So a recently arrived family with four or five children living in a damp and overcrowded, privately rented flat with the children suffering from asthma will usually get priority over a family with less housing need who have lived in the area for three generations and are stuck at home with the grandparents."

That is the Margaret Hodge quote that Alemci was referring to from this Guardian article

My local Sainsbury employs a lot of Polish people. With the comparative difference in wages, it is very worthwhile for someone to come from Poland or elsewhere and work and save hard for a few years, then return to Poland, or any other Eastern European country with a nice nest egg to buy a property. Good on them - many Brits do it after all, by working in Arabia, Hong Kong etc coming back with funds to buy somewhere.
The big companies know this. They know they have a transitionary work force who may only be in the country a few years, and so pay the lowest wages they can get away with, and do whatever they can to cut costs, by not offering to pay double for Sundays BH's etc. people who will only be in the job for 3/4 years tops are not going to kick up a fuss.
Again, we should take Australia's example. No benefits, for migrant workers, including healthcare should be paid until someone has two years of NI contributions made . Australians can come over too the UK, work for 6 months, and then claim benefits and healthcare. Wrong