Immigration

[refraction]

Today at a meeting I got talking about Brexit and immigration. I voted remain but a lady said she voted leave based on immigration.

Her reasons were

That people are less charitable when it’s their wage that you are messing with. It’s hard to accept migration when u have the bailiffs at ur door because a German took ur job (not what happened but some experience it that way). Nothing to do with being racist just hard when u don’t have a job in your hometown because someone has travelled from abroad to take it and then claim benefits for a family that lives oversees. And meanwhile u can’t sign on because universal credit is a nightmare.

She said people are black and white. All they see (truthfully or not) is that they had a job, now they don’t, a German (or foreigner) has their job and they can’t pay their mortgage... even if that’s not how it is, that is how many see it and therefore cause a rise in anti migration votes.

She was talking about entry level jobs, non skilled.

Any truth in this?

Immigration does affect certain industries more than others- particularly construction.

One of my close relatives, had run his own building company for over 30 years, but had to shut it down as he was constantly being out-priced by builders who were commonly of Eastern-European nationality (mostly Polish). These men were often equally-skilled and offering the same high standard of work- that wasn't the issue. But they were ALSO young (in their twenties), willing to live in a house-share with several other men (probably paying no more than a couple of hundred pounds in rent) and only living in the UK for a few years to earn a good sum of money and saving lots, before returning home to start their family-lives. Therefore they could afford to undercut the labour costs of someone like my relative, as their outgoings were minimal compared to someone who was supporting a family, paying a mortgage and bills, etc. My relative simply couldn't match the quotes his customers were being given by others, as he would not have been earning enough money to support his family.

Not saying Brexit is the answer at all, but offering a perspective behind 'immigrants taking the all the jobs'...

The child benefit issue was one of the things that would have been dealt with by David Cameron's "deal" before the referendum.

There will be fewer jobs for everyone if we crash out with no deal at the end of 2020 this.