Monday, January 08, 2007
Not conning us, and not conning them
The Government continues to try to con us about immigration, and now tries to con would-be migrants themselves. To us they say the tide is welcome and controllable; to would-be migrants they plead pathetically, 'please don't come'. The reality is that the flood -- a word no longer taboo -- will be unstoppable.
Today is D-day: the debut of the deluge from Romania/Bulgaria. These two countries became part of the EU just as Big Ben signalled cold baths in Trafalgar Square. Along with them can come much of the population of the former USSR, whose citizens either bogusly claim to be ancestral East Europeans or simply cross the new expanded EU border that is leakier than a sieve. So what has the Home Office been doing in anticipation?
Well they havent predicted the number of arrivals as they did before the 'A8' EU accession Mayday 2004, and for the very good reason theyre certain to get it wildly wrong. Instead is a radical departure.
Usually the Home Office tries to con the British population that there is an immigration policy/system. This IS the immigration policy/system, there being otherwise just a never ending rubber stamping exercise. The innovation is to try the same thing on outsiders.
Tonys PR machine has been spending our money in Romania/Bulgaria on advertising that people need a work permit. No they dont. Migrationwatch reckons 300,000 will come -- albeit that many will go to Italy and Spain. Forged documents are cheap and easy to get on Bucharest streets, and in any case, Work Permits UK rarely check that people end up in the job they say they have come to fill. Most will work on the black, get jobs from employers happy to employ illegally for low wages, or exploit the loophole I exposed over two years ago and join the bogus 'self-employed'. The 'one-legged Romanian roof tiler' rides again.
Who will lose? (Would-be) British workers -- especially recent migrants -- already on the lowest wages. That's a main reason why a huge proportion of Bangladeshi men are on the dole. Many or most workers rightly will ask themselves: why work?
Can these new migrants get benefits instead? Yes. There is -- still -- no system in place at Benefits Agency offices/Job Centres to check anyones immigration status, so despite what the Government claims, anyone arriving in Britain can get benefits.
So as well as your pay going down and the sort of job you can hope to get becoming ever narrower; your taxes will continue to go up. Why work indeed.
Even as a skilled worker, you can escape to places like Australia only with difficulty. You can get into Romania though, and Poland: theyre low on workers at the moment, the Polish Government complains because theyre all here.
