Immigration - can someone please explain it to me in simple terms?

[Illbeinthehottub]

So for as long as I can remember I’ve heard that there is a problem with immigration in the UK. There are headlines about it daily and it’s always an issue for government. It’s a big part of what Brexit was about.

I don’t personally understand all about it, what is the issue, is it simply than people feel immigration is putting additional pressure on services?

I’ve just seen another headline saying that Kier Starmer has lost control of the borders.

Conservatives were in power for 13 years, presumably immigration was still unacceptable to people. Now people are unhappy with Labour.

Can someone who understands explain to me a) what is the problem with immigration b) why hasn’t any government been able to have an acceptable policy that works c) is immigration just something for people to whinge about?

Also it wasn’t that great for the poorer citizens in the UK whilst this was going on. This is always conveniently forgotten

satanic mills

Yes I did mix you up with another poster and I apologise.

Not sure where you think I've posted anything hateful or non-factual about anyone or anything so I'm certainly not 'blinded by hate' but made a simple mistake.

Where was I waxing lyrical about Polish people? I distinctly remember reading impact studies before Brexit demonstrating that EU migration was a net positive for the EU. Whatever was agreed during the actual Brexit process, EU migrants are no longer even coming here more than are leaving? In the year ending 2024, it was minus 95000.
I also recently read an article stating clearly that the return of Polish workers to Poland is having a great impact on their own economy. Now if some would like to believe that it is the British child benefit topping up the Polish economy, then that has got to be satire.

Simple terms - large numbers of people are coming here each year. The majority are net contributors (so they take more out of the pot than they give ie. they are not high earners). Lots of these jobs are really important like caring jobs but they do not pay well enough so the people doing them take more in terms of education, NHS and other costs. Many of our public services are struggling and they need more money. There are not enough rich people in the country to tax to cover the amount of money required. At the same time we have an increasing pension amount as people are getting older and take more money from the pot. We also have more people claiming benefits as they are unable to work. At some point things will begin to collapse and there is a chance that there could be some sort of social unrest. The government is trying to do more things like build more housing but it is almost an impossible job. Even getting the materials for extra house building is really difficult let alone the planning issues and also finding the skilled labour to help to build housing. At the same time there are going to be huge issues with food due to war and climate change. We are hugely reliant on food imports which may stop and we would be unable to feed ourselves.

Above is the best description.

It isn’t.

The majority are net contributors (so they take more out of the pot than they give ie. they are not high earners).

Net contributors put more in than they take out.

How do they even prove how many children they have? It must be open to abuse.

@nomoreforks thats a great explanation

There was a discussion about housebuilding on the radio. The builders won’t build as not enough people can afford to buy them, it’s unviable for them.

sorry typo - most current arrivals are NOT net contributors although many do important jobs like caring jobs. Although the problem with these jobs isn't solved as new arrivals will move on quickly to other jobs which are better paid. These jobs ultimately need to be valued by society and those doing them should be paid more,