Why was IMMMIGRATION ignored in the budget>?

ruggedtoast

When you have areas that are de facto ghettos, where English is rarely spoken, and have 70% plus unemployment (Tower Hamlete etc) ; its easy to see a case against immigration.

Then again you can also go to plenty of areas full of white single mothers on benefits with all sorts of other problems - what can you do, ban everyone from having kids?

There are a lot of pluses to immigration, there are also a lot of downsides too. So called "chain immigration" is about to get a lot harder under the points based system, as spouses will have to speak English to join their husbands / wives here.

It is about to become very much harder for people to arrive on a student visa from a bogus college and then abscond as well. All good news really, though as someone who works in international education (we're now responsible for sponsoring visas and monitoring students) , it does seem pretty disorganised from the UKBA.

dervish

Wookster wrote: »

Don't feed the troll.

Dervish is one of the worst kinds of bigots. He will obstinately refuse to respond to a reasoned debate and will hark on about the Great Britannia.

It is pointless engaging with trolls like this.

:rolleyes:
There was actaully a interesting and reasoned deabte occurring before you arrived to throw misguided personal accusations around.

sporedude

Was the Britsh Empire really a bad thing? =S

beer_tins

bluey890 wrote: »

Do migrants add to economic growth?

Yes but they also add to population.
In a recent parliamentary debate, a Home Office Minister gave an official estimate that "migration has increased output by at least £4 billion and (accounts for) 10 - 15% of economic trend growth" But the Government had failed to take into account the addition to population. In 2005 net immigration was 185,000 which, on a population of 60 million, is 0.31%. At the same time the government’s estimate of £4 billion on a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of approximately £1,250 billion is 0.32%. The benefit in terms of GDP per head is therefore trivial – about 0.01% of GDP or just 4p per head per week – less than a Mars bar per month.
As for the claim that migration accounts for 10 - 15% of trend growth, the result is the same. Trend growth is 2.5% so 10-15% of trend growth is 0.25% to 0.375% of GDP. The effect on GDP per head is therefore a small negative or positive amount.
Other recent studies in the UK, and studies carried out in other countries, point to the same conclusion – namely that immigration makes little difference to GDP per head.

You may be right. One thing the figures don't show though, is the increase in the knowledge in hi-tech sectors that "super skilled" immigrants bring, or their ability to plug gaps in our labour market where we have skills shortages. My main point was that economics isn't the only factor to consider in government policy and to point out the fallacy that ending immigration would save the country billions, as the OP suggested. In fact it would certainly shrink our GDP, if not our GDP per capita (your figures suggest this would remain equal).

knowledgepower1

scousethife wrote: »

I keep hearing that, yet show me the thousands of people that have said, they cant be @rsed.

Its just a massive con so they can import cheap labour

I once told someone that my highly skilled migrant cousin earns £550/day as a project manager.
He bought a house here and was made to pay 60k deposit because he didn't have much history here.
So nobody should just collectively label migrant cheap labour.

Moreso, ask any responsible migrant, they can't be @rsed about benefits.

dervish

robin_banks wrote: »

By definition a Polish worker cannot be an 'illegal' as they are legally entitled to work here.

This is thre big problem - THEY SHOULDN'T BE!!!

No-one from any country, no matter whatcolour their skin is or their unusual religion, should be able to just wander into our country and take our resources / get a job.

Australia and America use systems that we shoudl employ to limit immigration. It should hardly ever be used.

Its another reason we need to get out of the EU as it stops us protecting our own sovereign territory from outsiders. :mad:

ruggedtoast

knowledgepower1 wrote: »

I once told someone that my highly skilled migrant cousin earns £550/day as a project manager.
He bought a house here and was made to pay 60k deposit because he didn't have much history here.
So nobody should just collectively label migrant cheap labour.

Moreso, ask any responsible migrant, they can't be @rsed about benefits.

I'm guessing your cousin doesnt live in Tower Hamlets or Southall.

Immigration policy here has never had anything to do with peoples opinions about it. Its been a ready source of cheap low skilled labour with the social problems dumped on areas cant cope and are too deprived to matter politically.

HSM Visas are hard to come by. It doesnt make sense that someone from Japan or Canada with an PhD has to jump through 200 hoops to come and work here in an industry where theyre needed, when someone else who is a 1st generation migrant can easily sponsor their brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles etc , many of whom arent literate in their own language, mostly because we have a service sector industry that needs low wage labour.

Its a loop hole that needs to be closed and hopefully it has been.

sporedude

Hmmmmm Alex Salmond wanted a referendum on Scottish Independance. Dont know if he still wants to go through with it

beer_tins

dervish wrote: »

Its another reason we need to get out of the EU

I can think of reasons to get out of the EU, but none of them economic. Businesses, high skill workers and investment would flood out of the country, economists are pretty much united on that point. No major party advocates complete withdrawal from the EU, because it is idiocy, frankly. No question, it needs serious reform, but at the end of the day we need it more than it needs us, as is the case for virtually every EU member.

bluey890

It's not British workers for British jobs you should be so concerned with.
I have yet to see a definition of 'British worker' or 'British job'.

It's about sustainability of the environment and quality of living.
Open green spaces are essential to one's health.