Immigrants on Benefits Figures Published/UK Migration Watch

[BobblyGussets]

Was anyone else listening to R4 this morning? The Government has published (with glee/gusto no doubt) the number of immigrants on benefits (around 350,000 if I remember correctly). Apologies for being vague, it was something on the radio, so will only probably be done in detail in the papers tomorrow. UK Migration Watch (sounds evil, like big brother or something) said their piece too about too many resources being given out in the form of benefits.

My heart is sinking at the coalition between government and the DM and I am imagining the headlines tomorrow. One subtle legal step away from incitement to racial hatred is something the right wing tabloid press to very well and I am very uncomfortable that the government is buying in to this by doing such a thing. On the other hand, I suppose there is an issue with Freedom of information. This does not bode well.

Please feel free to fill in the (no doubt many) gaps, sorry for being vague.

ttosca

You couldn't be more spectacularly wrong.

You can spin all you like about me being "little-Englander" - but I myself am from an immigrant background, and I know first hand the difference between the sort of immigrants who contribute to society, and the sort who leech from it.

Why on earth would I oppose the proposed skilled immigration cap, if I were being xenophobic? Judging immigrants on how much they contribute minus how much they take is more objective than just about any other measure I can think of.

I think many (most) immigrants could teach native Brits a thing or two about work ethic. They haven't just got on their bike; they've gotten on their boat (metaphorically speaking); it shows great get-up-and-go and resolve. But that still isn't an excuse to allow them to leech off our benefits system, however unfortunate their circumstances. We have too many benefits scroungers of our own; we don't need any more from abroad.

Britain should welcome the world's winners with open arms. It should politely say no thanks to the world's losers.

longfingernails

Firstly, It has already been pointed out that immigrants need to be settled here for five years before they can claim benefits. So the immigrant who comes to England and claims benefits has most likely worked for that period of five years. This means that they've also paid in taxes and NI contributions.

Secondly, your attitude to anyone who claims JSA reveals your reactionary tendencies: you think anyone who claims JSA is a 'loser'. Well, many hard working people who have worked 9-5 for over a decade claim JSA when they find themselves out of the job, whether it's because of 'downsizing' for profit or any number of reasons. They are not 'losers' because they don't have a job.

This idea of yours that there is a big problem of immigrants coming to this country because of our generous benefits system really only exists in your fevered imagination. The vast majority of immigrants come here legally and seeking work. They also contribute hugely to the economy. They also commit benefit fraud at a lower rate than the 'natives'.

So there is no justification for slinging labels like 'immigrants leech of our benefits system'.

Immigration should be a purely economic issue. If immigrants don't benefit the British economy then we should deport them.

Furthermore, this is utterly retarded. It's exactly the sort of thing a Tory bean counter would say who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

If the UK deported all the so-called 'losers' and immigrants who have even been on JSA, it would miss out on a huge amount of its talent in the form of - not just entrepreneurs - but musicians, artists, authors, play-writes, and other members of society who contribute culturally and technologically. The fact is that people from all backgrounds, talents, skills and intelligence find themselves in poverty or in need of help from time to time. This doesn't make them 'losers'. It makes them human.

ttosca. You may wish to retract your use of the word 'retarded'. There are many people with learning retardation who are well able to recognise that someone can benefit the society in which they live in many more ways than working solidly and suffering no misfortune for 25 years. In my (limited) experience, people with learning difficulties tend to see all humans as being worthy of equal treatment and fail to grasp the 'importance' of distinguishing people's worth and entitlement to fairness and compassion based on arbitrary factors outside their control, such as where they were born.

Well said for the rest of it though.

Sorry about that Thistledew. It's a verbal tick I picked up in the US, in the same way that some people use the word 'gay' to mean 'stupid' or 'lame'. I realise that some people find it offensive (understandably so), even though no offense is intended. I'll try not to use it again.

You're an idiot, lfn.

It almost pains me to say this........

But I agree with Ttosca.

Sorry, I'm going to have to have a quick lie down.