"London housing benefit claimant numbers soaring..." - The Guardian

Realmoney_2

drc wrote: »

Did you see the programme about the welfare state with John Humphreys the other day? There was a family from Venezuela that had got Spanish citizenship and turned up in the UK in the hope of finding work, the dad was a mechanical engineer I think but he couldn't find work in his profession so was working as a cleaner.

He had 3 or 4 kids and was living in Islington and having most of his housing benefit paid for. It's just a crazy situation if people can come here and claim such a lot in benefits (I understand he works but the amount he pays in taxes as a cleaner will dwarf what he and his family are being subsidised by the UK taxpayer). There is no reason why this guy and his family need to live in Islington. He is from Venezuela, only came to the UK in the past couple of years so has no local connection and could quite easily work as a cleaner in the north of England where rent would be cheaper and his benefits would stretch further.

I understand that the socialists envisage a perfect world where everyone is supported but it just isn't financially sustainable. For every Venezuelan cleaner with 4 kids, the housing benefit (let alone the other benefits) are made up of the tax of several minimum wage earners. The sooner the welfare state is reformed the better.

Yes I remember it. They were all dressed up smart he was wearing a suit and tie. John was saying what a lovely family an asset to the UK. Yeah right what an asset costing couple of grand per month.

The cut to cap all total benefits to 500wk would put a stop to the government paying out huge amounts for low income families living in London. But then house prices and rents will fall in London.

drc

Realmoney wrote: »

Yes I remember it. They were all dressed up smart he was wearing a suit and tie. John was saying what a lovely family an asset to the UK. Yeah right what an asset costing couple of grand per month.

The cut to cap all total benefits to 500wk would put a stop to the government paying out huge amounts for low income families living in London. But then house prices and rents will fall in London.

Yes, they probably were a really nice family but it's just crazy that they can come here, work as cleaners and be entitled to so much in benefits. Actually, I wonder if I can go off to Berlin, work as a cleaner for a few months and get all the German state benefits? I would love to live there with my family.

nomoreboomandbust

Realmoney wrote: »

Yes I remember it. They were all dressed up smart he was wearing a suit and tie. John was saying what a lovely family an asset to the UK. Yeah right what an asset costing couple of grand per month.

The cut to cap all total benefits to 500wk would put a stop to the government paying out huge amounts for low income families living in London. But then house prices and rents will fall in London.

But surely that has to be a good thing, I have interpreted it as being bad.

lynzpower

The indigenous UK population also needs to be taught to have some kind of a work ethic – it used to be that not having a job was a cause for shame. Now it seems to have become a way of life for many – many reasons for this, which I don't have time to go into at the mo. However, if benefits were harder to come by, many of those who are not working currently could and should take on the jobs done by immigrants/migrants. People should also learn that you often need to start from the bottom in order to achieve anything in life. These days people have incredibly high expectations, left over from the 'boom' years of labour's tenure in office (the boom being created by unrealistic borrowing in order to gain popularity for labour, the results of which we are unfortunately experiencing now).

It all here isnt it! Throw a few more stereotypes into the mix then you have all the answers NOT

1) people from more expensive areas have been pushed to outer london
2) rents here in WF have been rising steadily since last year in any case
3) wages are falling and those who would have been previously able to cope now have to turn to LHA to help pay the rent
4) LHA in any case goes nowhere near covering all the rent, even if you earn nothing, so whatever you may recieve from elsewhere
this is for the INDIGENOUS ( god I hate the use of that, its so value laden, no matter how much you claim it isnt)


And yes if you are an EU citizen of course you can migrate anywhere else in the EU. Of course it is against the whole purpose of the EU if there is not freedom of movement and freedom of benefits claiming/ access to healthcare and so on in the Union.

drc

Road_Hog wrote: »

And after that? The government's figures estimate another 5 - 6 million in the following 10 - 15 years. So between now and the next 25 years, that's another 10 Birminghams.

I love the way that the government makes estimates as though they are just passive observers and can do nothing about it. It is the government (mostly the previous one) that caused this chaos in the first place. They can a) stop all immigration except those that are highly skilled in greatly needed professions b) require a large bond for "students" coming here to study (at one of those dodgy colleges) and c) they can reduce benefits levels so that the attraction of coming to the UK is greatly reduced.

lynzpower wrote: »

And yes if you are an EU citizen of course you can migrate anywhere else in the EU. Of course it is against the whole purpose of the EU if there is not freedom of movement and freedom of benefits claiming/ access to healthcare and so on in the Union.

Lynzpower, is that really true? Can I just head over to Berlin with my family, work as a cleaner or some other menial job for a few months and start claiming unemployment/housing/child benefit in Germany? Is it really that easy?

lynzpower

drc wrote: »

Lynzpower, is that really true? Can I just head over to trendy Berlin with my family, work as a cleaner or some other menial job for a few months and start claiming unemployment/housing/child benefit in Germany? Is it really that easy?

I've no idea about the German benefits system, Id imagine its as awful to tap into as the one here is.

But anyway: thats the whole point of the EU freedom of goods services and labour. By all means, head off to Germany, not hard you can probably take a train most if not all of the way, or a national express coach.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

drc wrote: »

Actually, I wonder if I can go off to Berlin, work as a cleaner for a few months and get all the German state benefits?.

Yes.

That's the whole point of the EU. UK citizens can move to any member country and receive the same services and benefits as a native born citizen, just as they can here.

Why would you even wonder such a thing?

Ilya_Ilyich

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Yes.

That's the whole point of the EU. UK citizens can move to any member country and receive the same services and benefits as a native born citizen, just as they can here.

Why would you even wonder such a thing?

Sounds like more of your Marxist claptrap to me.

Road_Hog

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Yes.

That's the whole point of the EU. UK citizens can move to any member country and receive the same benefits as a native born citizen, just as they can here.

Is that why we joined the EEC/EC/EU?

So, people from countries that are much poorer than us could raid our benefits system from the taxes that we paid in?

Well, I never knew that. I certainly haven't seen it in any party manifestos, nor have I see mass unfettered immigration in any manifesto.

I also didn't vote for it.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Sapphire wrote: »

In case you are trying to imply I'm some kind of a racist, I am the offspring of political exiles, who was born in the UK. The influx of immigrants/migrants both from continental Europe and third world countries is too much for me

Lucky for you then that previous generations in this country did not display the same Xenophobic intolerance you do.