PM Should honour jobs pledge
Saturday 14th February 2009, 7:10AM GMT.
LETTER: The Labour Party has sold out the British working class in favour of a globalized financial federal Europe, with the silent backing of the trade unions.
Now the workers have woken up and found themselves in a socially engineered nightmare, where they are being replaced by foreign workers. All the major parties have taken the GATTs bat to hit us over the head with and the EU Treaty to kick us in the groin with.
I was overjoyed when workers at Lindsey Oil Refinery went out on strike. So what if the price of oil goes up in the short term? That should be a catalyst for a national strike and a clear message for Mr Brown. Honour your pledge – British jobs for British workers.
Mark Norwood
Oswestry
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Rubbish nobody has sold any one out . LEARN TO BE COMPETATIVE AND CONSINE THE WORD OF THE IDLE (STRIKE) TO THE PAST.
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New Labour put all their effort to support and promote a multi-culture society in Britain representing mainly only 1 million ethnic minorities and they ignored the other 59 million Brits. I do not call that Democracy but it is more like Minocracy.They put zero effort to protecting British jobs. Fine mess !!
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“The Labour Party has sold out the British working class in favour of a globalized financial federal Europe, with the silent backing of the trade unions”.
Brown and the Labour Party haven’t just sold the “working class” out. They have sold out every man, woman and child in this country. If things continue as they are, our country is going to sink as a tidal wave of new arrivals from every corner of the globe is thrust upon us.
A recent Channel 5 programme showed an instance where a drunken crowd of young men were fighting and brawling in a London Street necessitating one going to Hospital. Where did they come from?, Turkmenistan – would one believe it, do we all know where that place is. Why would they wish and why would they be allowed to come here. We have absolutely nothing in common with that country or it’s people.
150 different languages are now commonly spoken in London, 3 in every 5 in London is now a foreigner. Yes, our historic capital city, oozing with the very “being” of Britishness now openly displays signs and advertisements written in languages that we don’t understand for the benefit of people that we don’t understand.
Were we consulted about this, was it in the Labour manifesto, what EU directive tells us we must accept young men from some remote part of the ex Soviet Union into our midst.
They have more than sold us out, no cash changed hands, they gave us away, free gratis and for nothing and these are the people for whom jobs must be found, housing provided, medical and education facilities made available, living space given and then this Labourite Government who lie through the teeth when this subject is mentioned, wonder why most sensible people hold them in such contempt.
Perhaps when we finally end up as jam packed as Hong Kong, some of these people who see nothing wrong in mass, uncontrolled immigration to this country will be satisfied.
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No fact in the above at all , most are migrant workers who come here as many brits go abroad and work hard save hard .
They pay taxes while they are here buy products from british shops pay british landlords pay british council tax pay water rates spend money at british leaisure centres , use british airlines to fly home etc etc etc etc etc etc where shall we stop THAT IS WHAT THE MAJORITY DO CHECK HOW MANY MIGRANTS ARE CLAIMING BENEFITS FOR NOT WORKING FAR TO MUCH MAIL CLAP TRAP.
THERE ARE MILLIONS OF IDLE BRITS CLAIMING BENEFITS SOME HAVE PROBABLY SAID NOW AS AN EXCUSE NOT TO WORK OUR JOBS HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY EU WORKERS RUBBISH the jobs shouldnt have been there for the eu worker to take .We are part of the eu we can all go and work with in the eu at will YOU CAN ALL DO THE SAME .
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Andrew, sorry, complete and utter balderdash and you plainly don’t get out of Salop much, neither can you read the papers or watch TV. In fact, you seem completely oblivious to what is happening around you. Let’s examine your “facts” one by one.
(a) they pay taxes. Well the ones I see sleeping rough and waiting in crowds on street corners for shady “gangmasters” don’t.
(b) Yes, they pay landlords, swapping crummy beds in slums to cater for shift changes in 5 and more to a room slums. In many cases even the landlords are foreigners.
(c) The ones I see don’t use British airlines – they don’t use airlines period, they spend their time trying to find reasons not to go anywhere else but stay here. And many “legal” EU workers use buses from Victoria Coach Station, I see them most weeks when I go down there. The ones coming here of course don’t use a plane or a bus they use the backs of container lorries into Dover and similar.
(d) Just in case you haven’t realised, British workers are entitled to claim benefits it is part of our national social system, illegals can’t claim anything, legally, but they drain the system illegally. EU workers (legal) are entitled to benefits but glory be, they can claim gods knows what here, enough to send to wives and children who have never set foot here and, if we go there, the unemployment in some EU countries is all of £5 a week – if we had the cheek to claim it and they had to will to pay it.
You have the gall to compare a Brit claiming benefits to a foreigner doing the same.
So you are advocating British workers go and take jobs in Europe are you, what a sorry, shameful suggestion and it just sums up the whole basis of your silly comments. I could make the same sort of silly, facetious suggestion that if you like it so much in Europe, why don’t you etc etc etc. It is just as daft, you wouldn’t like it neither would our workers.
Perhaps you would like to stand in front of the BMW workers – all 850 of them put out of a job today and tell them to go and work in Bulgaria, Romania, Spain, Poland, or any of the other 23 countries.
Elsewhere, someone says that it is the left wing, liberal, woolly minded europhiles who have got our country into this state. If that cap fits, can I make a polite suggestion.
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Well stuart you clearly are reading a lot of papers.
I know many eu workers and further afield the ones i know rent/bought from our local estate agents. They work with local employers in shrewbury from the farming industry, education,nhs.
They are paid the same as there english work mates and work just as hard as there english work mates. They pay taxes shop spend and save in our banks etc etc like it or not that is fact .
The ones you say you see being rounded up by there gang masters i question if they are actually eu residents DO YOU KNOW ACTUALLY WHAT COUNTRY THEY COME FROM? WOULD YOU NO THE DIFFERENCE DO YOU BETWEEN ?LEGAL/ILLEGAL/ASYLAM SEEKER .
As for benefits etc i do think you need to do a little more homework on that one.
And to be honest i do not think you no WHAT IS AN ILLEGAL AND WHAT IS A DECENT NORMAL INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS COME TO ENGLAND FOR WORK.
SURPRISE SURPRISE THERE ARE THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF BRITS DOING THE SAME THING ALREADY IN THE EU AND THEY YOU WILL NEVER GUESS THIS ONE BEEN DOING IT FOR YEARS AND FURTHER A FIELD AND THE REASON FOR THIS IS BETTER MONEY AND A BETTER STANDARD OF LIVING BETTER WEATHER AND TO BROADEN THERE MINDS.
I am not telling any brit to look for work abroad the brits with a bit of get up and go have been doing it for years and filling there boots many have decamped over there full time and are loveing it sorry stuart but most brits want a little more than a mundane 9-5 job with average pay and 2 weeks in blackpool these days .
As for what i would say to bmw workers its easy.
I believe you were all AGENCY WORKERS i have a duty to protect my full time permanent workers as temp workers i no longer need you thank you for your service .WHATS THE PROBLEM? They were aware they were agency workers TEMP YOU KNOW ITS NOT PERMANENT YOU KNEW THAT WHEN YOU STARTED.
I was an agency workers 24 years ago for 3 years i worked for a local factory no holiday pay then if you were an agency worker and no permanent jobs we were temp we were given 1 hours notice we just all(14) said thanks for what you did give us over the last 3 years and if any jobs come up keep us in mind which they did and some of my mates returned 2 months later full time non agency.
The way some of the ones i saw behave at bmw they have as much chance of going back as i have of going to the moon.
I would also say if these chaps have been paying in to a union then the word MUGS comes to mind as the unuion will take there money but look after the permanent a little naughty do you not think stuart.
I am of the school of sir digby jones remove our foriegn labour at your peril, stop whinging get your backsides in to gear be competative , take pay cuts if you have to, travel further afield if you have to , look at retraining, look at other options, look at other countries.
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Yes, Sir Digby Jones, ex boss of the Confederation of British Industry and an ex Labour Lap dog though he would deny it. If our country has to depend on the likes of him, no wonder why we are were we are.
Yes, I know only to well the difference between an illegal and a legal and both would be banned if I had my way.
Legal Foreign Workers on the Olympic site in London earning £50 a day – that’s not exploitation and underpricing British workers – then tell me what is. They are clearly not being paid the same as our workers and given a choice, because of that, employers will go for cheap foreign labour.
There are not “thousands upon thousands of British workers in the parts of the EC that most foreign workers come from to this country, I doubt that there are that many in Spain, France etc, most are retired enjoying the good life. How many Brits in the Baltic or East European countries. 20,000 applications were made in one London Borough alone in one month by foreign workers for National Insurance numbers and all the benefits that, that entails.
No, employers don’t want foreign workers removed because it removes a ready source of exploitation and profits from them. If you are an employer – I wonder how many you employ.
As for the agency workers, I am sure, given the choice, these would have preferred permanent status and took agency work because the firm would not employ them otherwise. I have little time for militant unions of which Unite is one but yesterday, Tony Woodley said it all, “BMW did it because they can get away with it in this country – if they were in germany they couldn’t have done it”. What’s the betting, when they start hiring staff again, it won’t be British agency workers, it will be foreign ones.
Nobody, but nobody can convince me that the swamping of foreigners into our little country is either beneficial or in the eventual best interests of them or ourselves.
You speak as an employer Andrew and everything that that entails as well.
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I am sorry stuart but if you think the eu is full of retired brits then you are realy blinded by your views .
Yes there are the retired but i suggest you check out the statistics of brits going to the eu and further to work or start there own business it is thousands upon thousands.
your assumption that bmw will employ eu workers next is that an assumption. As all your views seem to be based on assumptions.
As i have said before do you wish the eu countries and others kick out there british workers and send them ALL back here???.
And i say again the legal worker comes here to work if there were no jobs they would not come, infact many go back once the work stops as many brits come home when there work dries up .
Hospital staff are paid the same, farming staff are paid the same its a myth they are cheaper.
If we subscribed to your way of thinking the hospitals would be empty of staff , the very staff who pay taxes.
The trouble with many brits they have lost the work ethic they sadly want as much as possible for doing as little as possible every one has the right to withdraw there labour but an employer should not be held to ransom by an employee.
I employ at present 3 brits i have employed a pole, cheq, phillipino, irish, french All worked as hard as each other all were honest all were on the books all paid tax Ni , all spent in the local comunity etc etc etc etc .
A little Englander will not pull the uk out of the current credit crunch brits with vision, get UP and go, not afraid of change , not afraid of taking risks, and see the world as open to all through travel and work its 2009 not BC .
A little englander is of no benefit to the uk as i do not believe there are many of them and many are now probably retired non tax paying individualls who are now only takeing from the state.
TARGET YOUR ANGER AT THE LONG TERM UNEMPLOYED IN THE UK , THE SO CALLED LONG TERM SICK?, BENEFIT CHEATS,TAX EVADERS,ILLEGALS,QUESTION ASSYLEM SEEKERS, THE DISHONEST, THE JOKE OF A LEGAL SYSTEM ETC . LEAVE HARD WORKING PEOPLE WHO WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING OF THEMSELVES ALONE LEAVE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO DIG THE UK OUT OF THE MESS ALONE.
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It is rather scary that Andrew Finch says he’s an employer, yet can’t even master basic English grammar and spelling. Scary….
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The number of perfectly legal migrant workers from Eastern Europe is diminishing as the pound drops in value against the Euro, and as their economies improve from the old Iron Curtain days.
If unscrupulous employers are exploiting migrant workers, then it is them we should be seeking to clamp down on – not people seeking work here perfectly legally. These dodgy employers must be delighted to see different groups of workers at each other’s throats – the unacceptable face of capitalism thrives where workers are divided.
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Andrew, Foreign workers “over here” outnumber our own workers “over there” by 4 – 1. Non EU workers over here (ie those with no automatic right to be here but which Labour has allowed to come) outnumber EU workers by a massive ratio, indeed of over 3 1/2 million foreign workers, over 2 million came from outside the EU.
The percentage of foreign workers taking British jobs increased from 7.5% in 1997 when Labour came to office to 13% today. Want me to go on, these are not assumptions, these are facts which I did not wish to labour but merely to point out the principles.
With a niece who is at a very high level in the NHS (and I mean high at Director level) and a daughter at Nursing/Midwifery Sister level there is nothing you can tell me about foreigners in the NHS, it is the favourite cry of the apologists for all the foreign people being allowed in this country. If foreigners were not allowed in, there would be no need for our whole social infrastructure to be under strain and therefore no need for foreigners in our NHS.
You are an apologist for the EU, the unrestricted entry of EU workers into this country and I abhor all that, on this issue, you stand for. You can make every excuse, you can attempt to give every justification and with me and many like me, it holds not the slightest credibility.
As for saying that these people will get us out of the mess that we are in, well, that shows such great economic and financial reasoning that if the same was applied in your business it would see you bankrupt within a very short time.
In the current climate, I would be ashamed and very reluctant to shout about any support for the EU.
If your following comment is a sarcastic point directed at me, can I say that (a) I am a pensioner and in that regard I have (without any doubt at all) paid a larger pension and National Insurance contribution than you are likely to pay in the whole of your working life and (b) my Income Tax contributions (on salary) are probably as much, if not much higher than yours were.
“A little englander is of no benefit to the uk as i do not believe there are many of them and many are now probably retired non tax paying individualls who are now only takeing from the state.”
You will forgive me therefore when I say I bow to nobody when it comes to paying their way in this country and I have every right to be extremely anti EU and foreign worker.
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I may not have mastered perfect grammer and spelling.How ever that is not my bread and butter i can make money ,i can employ people and that is what matters at the moment .What is seems we are going to have over the comeing year is a load of clever little lads and lasses on benefits with there qaulifications and a rather high opinion of themselves BUT STILL UNEMPLOYED.
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Gosh Little Englander I have not heard that one for a few years!
I think it has just been announced that there are four times the number of EU workers in Britain than British Workers in the EU, I have not seen the report, only quoting a headline. But even if there were I million British workers in the EU (and there is not) that would still be the tail wagging the dog, as the rest of us who have not left the country are competing with four times that amount of foreigners for work. This is especially noticeable at the lower end of the pay and skills level. Where it is recognised that the imported labour force has had the effect of forcing lower wages ie more on minimum wages.
Also a great many of these workers have no intention of staying here, they are here for the work to improve their conditions at home, this means that far from spending in the community they will be saving as much as possible to send home.
Nothing here is intended to suggest that EU workers are not prepared to work.
Given the minimum wages in Britain is the third highest of all the member states (2007) this would mean British workers can only work in Ireland or Luxemburg to improve there earning potential. Considering purchasing power Britain is the second of all EU states. So the argument that we should get on our bikes and go to work in the EU is an argument for a race to the bottom. And it denies the reality that the low paid or unemployed are not likely to be the ones to up sticks and move to a foreign country to seek work. Even if they did they would not be better off and they would also find it difficult to return to this country to seek work, because EU rules after a year you will receive benefits from the state in which you last worked, hence although a Polish worker would be better off in Poland looking for work whilst receiving British job seekers allowance the same cannot be said of the reverse case.
But there are other considerations, we elect our government to look after the British state, the British people and British business, we also pay them quite a reasonable wage for doing so, they are supposed to be the servants of the people of Britain. Quite a few British and Britain’s there on purpose because it is the British nation state. And we the people should be asked if we want to exchange our present nation state.
Our governments of both parties have reneged on their duty to protect the state and its people, they cannot claim to now to protect the state because they have agreed to a policy of open borders, we can no longer control our own borders from anyone who is already inside the EU. This means that we cannot set our own immigration levels for the benefit of the state. Also the present situation actually discriminates against anyone who is not from an EU state, who might want to come and settle in this country.
We must however recognise a basic problem, the people of this country have never given their consent to being immersed in the EU to this extent. We voted to remain a member of the Common Market
One of the points made by Wilson’s government was;
No important new policy can be decided in Brussels or anywhere else without the consent of a British Minister answerable to a British Government and British Parliament.
These decisions can be taken only if all the members of the Council agree. The Minister representing Britain can veto any proposal for a new law or a new tax if he considers it to be against British interests.
None of this is now true because the EU has developed drastically since 1974 and now the British government finds that it can be outvoted on practically all policy issues, even then when it negotiates an opt out the ECJ can rule against, or the EU parliament can vote to remove the opt out.
It really is well past the time when the British people should have been consulted about ever closer union.
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stuart,
The statistics you have mentioned make for interesting reading.However the same people who complied the numbers also stated we do not see eu working migrants as a long term problem as most will return home .The issue we have is with the non eu workers many who are illegal/asylam.
As for your point that you have
(a) I am a pensioner and in that regard I have (without any doubt at all) paid a larger pension and National Insurance contribution than you are likely to pay in the whole of your working life and (b) my Income Tax contributions (on salary) .
I will assume you were being amusing on that one. Every pensioner & ANTI EU i know has always paid more and contributed more IN TAXES and i am happy to agree if it makes them happy.
KEN,
I take your point on low wage earners. And yes it is a small problem ie the wages are, not the labour force in them. The low paid jobs were there for the takeing WHY??becoue the brits will not do them.
I would say before i left my low paid job and started my business 2/3 years ago i was on a low 13k a year .When i took the job i was the only one who applied when i left they had no takers a few turned up and said “aint working alternate shifts”.
My job went to an early retired guy 7months after i left a brit who wanted to work.
EU workers are not an issue as i have said they pay taxes in to our system and use our services . A certain section of immigrants need to be looked at for draining our system but so do around 2million brits claiming benefits we have 4 million on incompacity benefit and we are told it need be around 1.2 million.
It makes me laugh when you read all the objectors they pay more taxes etc etc than any one else . Remember you are paying in to a system for others when you retire it is the workers tax payers ni payers who are paying for you.
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Andrew, somewhere in the deep recesses of my memory, I recall 82% of the polled British public wanted a referendum on the EU which this Labour gang promised and then lied to us and broke the promise.
You, with your blatantly “europhile” pandering and your generalised, unspecific insults to those Brits on benefits are not a member of some noble band, upholding all the proud traditions, history and culture of our little island, if the truth is known, you are a member of a despised likely, minority who puts foreign people in our country on a par with your own countrymen. You continually harp on about being “an employer” and are proud of the fact you employ foreigners and seem to set more store on these than Brits. If I was the owner of a small business employing one or two, perhaps three or four foreigners, or whatever it is, I would not be proud of the fact and when you castigate British workers can I suggest that like a general who blames his troops for failures or a bad workman blaming his tools, that is a direct reflection on the person who is responsible for recruiting and managing them.
We, meaning those that have no time for the EU, should take some pride in the snide comment, “little Englander”, it is no longer the term of derision that you thought it was. Who was it who once said, “England, that little nation of shopkeepers”. Some little nation, some shopkeepers, you know a bit about Anglo/French history of course and what the shopkeepers did, both to and for France.
The objects of derision in these troubled times should be the diminishing number of Europhiles in our midst.
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stuart .
I am an enlightened person who gives a job to the ones who wish to work. My staff are now all english as they applied last time i was looking.
YES i was happy with my staff from the eu but no more than the brits i now have.I show no one favour why should i ?.
As i move around france/italy,spain, and further etc i find many brits in work or running businesses in these countries i just hope they do not meet people with your views.
YOU have evaded the question what do you wish to be done to the millions of brit workers expats in the eu and further do you wish them to be kicked out and sent back to the uk?.As they seem to be no different to the ones you object to being here in the uk. please do not forget many have not contributed to the uk for years.
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I agree with Andrew.
I don’t see much wrong with the free movement of peoples and today with the borders within Europe being pulled down so that young people can move around, learn the cultures, languages etc., of other nations – then it can only be for the general good of mankind.
Both my (Canadian) children are working in Europe at the moment and I am sure they will learn a great deal from their experience… they may even choose to live in France or Spain, what a wonderful privilege considering Franco was on the ‘throne’ when I was a kid and even travel to Spain was limited.
Also when I worked in various European countries there was always the problem of work visas and permits. And as for the east Europeans .. what a dreadful time they had including an old flat-mate who had escaped the tyranny of Budapest in ’56.
Europe has come a long, long way since that time and England should have been at the helm .. and easily could’ve been with her international reputation, prosperity, language and influence.
Indeed my kids both comment on what a nation of complainers the British are, they blame everybody but themselves for their, somewhat, petty problems.
Furthermore, countries such as France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria have, in the past, had a much greater ratio of foreign born workers within their borders than the UK. This is what happens when a country is successful … it goes with the territory.
The Americans, with their usual insularity, refuse to give work permits to Mexican and other much needed workers – they work under-the-table and at risk of being deported. There is no free movement of people between Canada and the US which stifles industry and does nothing to foster good relations between our two countries.
And as far as Turkmenistan is concerned we should know where the place is … or is your education system as bad as ours? The Afghan war concerns this area (Canada and Great Britain have lost hundreds of young men in this war) which has arguably more oil reserves than anywhere outside of the Gulf regions.
Maybe we should be cultivating the friendship of young Turkmen … after all they might turn out to be friends not foes in the crisis that is unfolding in the former Soviet ‘Stans’ dictororships.
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I have not evaded the question Andrew, I pointed it out and also Ken Adams pointed it out that EU workers over here outnumber UK workers over there by 4 – 1.
If UK workers and EU workers were simply to swap places by all returning to their home countries (without going into all the arguable and intangible means of achieving this) which country would you suggest is likely to show the benefits.
I am not going to comment Tony because I reject 99.9% of everything you say.
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you have evaded the question figures fit who ever is makeing them up. Are you suggesting the enforced return of brits from abroad becouse in your world the uk will then become utopia??.
Lets face it i think most will agree with your way of thinking the uk would be in a (land that time forgott) its people would lack any form of ambition world knowledge etc etc etc i honstly think 99.9% of the british public would not agree with you and the rest can be classed as non progressive whingers.
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This is getting to silly for words. You say “whoever is making them up”. When you haven’t got a sensible answer – you then go into silly comments. The figures have been produced by Migrationwatch, agreed by the Borders Agency, accepted by the Government and published by almost every newspaper in the country. And you disagree with them, well, bully for you. I said nothing at all about the hypothetical question of how repatriation would be achieved but you prefer to put the “enforced” connotation on it.
You are arguing silly now, that is me out.
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you still have not answered the question. What about all the brits abroad?? there isnt a few thousand you know .
It seems to me you want all this in your country which will become utopia but brits if they so wish should go global if they wish and i bet you think the countries should be honoured to have them too,
LALA land
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I think we should stop ignoring the obvious, this is not about immigration, it is not about people wishing to move to this country and become residents wishing to live here and make their lives here. It is about a temporary foreign work force which is being used to roll back workers condition and pay. Some might argue that, it is amazing for government to be prepared to use a reserve army of foreign labour to depress the living standards of the lowest paid British workers to provide cheap labour for the better off.
Is that progressive?
The argument that the arrival of Eastern Europeans ‘undeniably brings a number of economic benefits’ needs to be exposed to critical scrutiny. In particular we need to examine the claim that immigration relieves labour shortages and pressure on pay levels and thus contributes to economic growth while helping to ease inflation.
Immigration increases the size of the labour force and must, therefore, increase the size of national income. But what matters especially to the lower paid is income per head and most of the extra income generated by immigration by necessity accrues to immigrants.
A Home Office report of 2001 Migration: an economic and social analysis put it:
“In general, immigration increases the supply of labour. This is likely, in theory, to reduce wages for workers competing with migrants, and increase the returns to capital and other factors complementary to migrant labour”.
Furthermore, immigrants and this especially applies to those from Eastern Europe are here to send money back home. This means contrary to claims of the opposite that they are depleting savings in Britain and they are providing little or no contribution to forming the capital that is necessary to bring the capital-labour ratio up to the level prior to their arrival. In other words they depress the standard of living of the ordinary person whilst adding to the profits of the companies.
It is quite right that we are all contributing to the welfare state, but the very nature of that means most of us will pay in more than we take out, otherwise the whole system would collapse. Arguments I have seen seem to miss this point, when they claim the foreign worker is only taking out that which they have paid in when they return home to look for work, but claim job seekers allowance from Britain. It would actually be interesting to asses the truth of this, and do a profit and loss assessment, what have they paid in during the year and at which point after they return home do the payments cease!
The argument is we should not be protectionist because protecting a nation its workers or it business is bad! Well I am afraid this is simple poppycock, because we are being protectionist, in that we define clearly what non EU immigration is going to be allowed and we limit non EU immigration. So the EU is being protectionist, thus the argument is not about protectionism at all, it is about the power of the member state to control is own economy its own welfare system and its own borders.
Is it progressive to destroy the British nation state because that is the actuality of the situation? I would not necessarily agree that giving the EU power is progressive; it is an anti democratic organization that would never have been formed if the people had been asked. When we use words such as protectionism and progressive, it is perhaps best to make certain that we understand fully the meaning of those words, because the reality is they seem only to apply to the EU member state and its people and not to the EU itself.
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how can in roll back terms and conditions?? the british worker is one of the best protected in the world. The low paid are paid the same , and it is british citizens who are openly employing eu plumbers builders etc becouse they are cheaper
(do we take away the right of a citizen to employ who they wish)
a polish builder was charging a friend of mine a labour charge of £590 compared to the brit who wanted £1k a week who is ripping who off ??? is a builder worth the larger amount?? i dont think so we have been held to ransom by brit builders/plumbers for years fair price for a fair days work i say .
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There you have proved the point; the new immigrant worker is undercutting the British worker. But who is it benefiting, not the British worker for sure.
However I note you are now talking about probably self employed workers, rather than the low paid workers.
One should consider few points before the comparing the British Builder too for instance a Polish builder. Not suggesting a Polish builder is cowboy or anything like that merely pointing out the differences.
He will not be living in this country, he will be here to earn money to send home, hence he will spending as little as possible, his costs are much less, as the cost of living in Poland is so much lower than here he can support his family back home on less money, and he will not be worried about the quality of his job as he wont be around to be called if anything goes wrong.
I do not condemn anyone who has the opportunity of improving their lot and I do not condemn any business for employing that person. I work in an industry that has always during my life struggled to find workers to fill posts, I have during my working life worked happily with just about every national you could imagine. So I do not approach this from a perspective of protecting jobs the British education system undervalues and there are many of those including building plumbing ect, in fact anything that requires hands on experience has been devalued in this country. It is beginning to improve as the reality strikes home that those who have followed media studies, computer studies ect. Still need their drains cleared when they become blocked still need their cars serviced and so on.
But that is by the by, this is internal to the EU, were your friend to have employed a builder who is not from the EU, he would face very heavy fines, so obviously there is protectionism at work in the system. So I do not agree with those who get on their high horse and start calling British workers xenophobic, protectionist, little Englander’s when they complain about being undercut by foreign workers.
This is the government of the EU destroying the fabric of the nation state whilst at the same time building on the fabric of the EU as a nation state. Whilst our own local government in Westminster accedes to the destruction of the very thing they are elected and paid to defend, without asking the people of this country if that is what they want to happen. This week the President of the EU parliament said the EU are legislators for 75% of all laws in Europe and with the Lisbon Treaty nearly 100% of all cases. It looks very much like those who are supposed to represent us in Westminster have already outsourced their most of their work, I am tempted to wonder why we should still be forced to pay to keep this charade on the road.
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Andrew, I will come back in because you have a false idea of what the issue is all about, you say, “DO WE TAKE AWAY THE RIGHT OF THE CITIZEN TO EMPLOY WHO THEY WISH”.
My answer to that is “no and yes”, “no”, if the “citizen” is employing British labour and a big “yes” if that employer wishes to take on foreign (EU) labour when there is a ready “pool” of skilled and qualified UK workers also available to do it. Can you not understand that there are many people who are utterly opposed to the EU and everything it stands for and every word you comment merely reinforces those opinions and views in the minds of those who value this country and it’s workers and people.
The British economy is based on the wages of it’s own workers, it’s own goods and services and it’s own infrastructure and overall capital and costs. If £1000 is the going rate – then pay the going rate not a less amount to a foreign worker when Brits are able to do it. You speak like a true employer who will exploit every opportunity for a fast buck, you owe loyalty to nothing except your pocket and you distort figures and quote examples and principles to suit your purpose to put yourself on the self expressed high moral ground which, to onlookers has a dubious basis.
Right, we have the message, you have a small firm, you said you employ British workers but the impression comes clearly across that you despise Brit workers in favour of foreign ones. Fine, that’s great if you feel proud with that standpoint but let’s put paid to a few myths of the pro EU brigade.
Eurostat is an EU official Agency that deals with the central statistics of the EU. That Agency gives the following figures.
EU WORKERS in the United Kingdom, 1,172,000.
UK WORKERS in the European Union, 288,000, which includes:-
UK WORKERS in Germany, 65,300.
UK WORKERS in Ireland, 52,000.
UK WORKERS in Italy, 11,100.
UK WORKERS in Portugal, 4,500.
The above figures are “WORKERS”, they do not include UK citizens living in EU countries and who are eligible to draw UK state pensions.
The ploy of the Europhobes is to lump “workers” and “pensioners” together to illustrate the flawed assertion that as many UK workers live in the EU as what there are EU workers living here.
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Should be “Europhiles” and not Europhobes.
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you or who ever seem to have doctored the figures a little here. I and im sure many would not agree to these figures what about the seasonal brit workers etc etc and those who have left to start there own business etc etc as i have said it is not just eu countries the brits have invaded neither have you added the brits who have emigrated losk/stock and to eu countries and further.
As for what i am prepared to pay ? well im sure again many brits would agree with me we pay a fair price as i have said we have been held to ransom that is the brit worker problem he has ruined it for many by holding employers to ransom i am an employer and business not a charity.
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It was also found 5.5 million expat Britons – a number that rises to six million if those who live or work part of the year abroad are included. Taken together, they represent approximately 10% of British citizens. Until now, tentative government estimates of expats had ranged from 4.5 million to 14 million.
Lets face it if brits are abroad and not working but drawing a pension and all its benefits from the uk are they not worse than a migrat workerer paying in to the system??
DO WE TAKE THESE ALL BACK AS WE KICK OUT ALL THE NON BRITS???
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Andrew; I believe those figures are from the government statistics office, I also believe we are only referring to EU nationals and EU states, not all the people who have emigrated from Britain. The people who have moved to other EU states but are still drawing a state pension, I believe would still be entitled to those pensions wherever they live. The difference between them and an eastern European who has only been here a year and has no intention of staying because he only came for the work, is that they have paid into the pot all their lives.
I do understand where you are coming from with regard to wages, but there has always been a dichotomy between what the worker thinks he is worth and what the employer thinks he can pay. I am also an employer or rather was and I could never afford to pay what I would have liked to pay and was always grateful to find people who were willing to work for us at the rate we could afford. As I said I work in a traditionally low pay industry, I have struggled all my life on low pay but I always understood that it was the best my employer could do, my fault I suppose for choosing the wrong trade.
As far as tradesmen go, builders, electricians, plumbers etc. I think we have historically undervalued those trades by allowing the education system to become elitists, so we have ended up in a situation where too few people were prepared to enter those trades, that has resulted in a shortage of skilled tradesmen, which means they are in a position of power when it comes to negotiating a price for the job.
I tend to think this business of kicking out all the non “Brits” is not the point at issue here, we do need some immigration but our government can no longer decide on the level. I am a little concerned by the term “Brit” I hope that includes all those who have over the years made their home here and are British nationals.
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I just do not believe the daily mail myth that eu workers are takeing all our jobs .
Yes the have taken many low paid jobs but they were there for the takeing.As for builders plumbers etc etc the prices paid to these valued members of society would now be low becouse of the world wide recession ie building trade on its knees etc etc.
If an eu firm gets a contract and it is not stated in that contract that they have to use qaulified british workers who is to blame?? not the eu company.
Some on here have requested we send all non brit nationals home i am afraid a person who lives in the real world OUR HOSPITALS WOULD BE EMPTY OF QUALIFIED STAFF WE WOULD EVEN BE ASKING THE WORLDS TOP HEART DR TO PACK HIS BAGS AND LEAVE.
I like many are tired of people whingeing and saying all i want is my country clap trap back they are paranoid individuals in my view. I do not see how any migrant worker paying in to the british system via taxes etc etc can be a bad thing and i will not be convinced other wise.
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Andrew, I think you will find that it would be illegal for a contract to contain a British only workers clause.
Immigration is good to a point but too much immigration is not good, especially when we have duty of care for them, and especially when we do not control the influx. An insurance system works on the basis that less people will take out than put in, if the temporary worker takes out what he put in or even more then it is not good for our national system.
The social safety net we have introduced in Britain is nationally based and will be destroyed if it is open to all, but that is the intention the EU want to break up all national institutions because it works against building an EU Demos and without an EU Demos the EU lacks a popular mandate. Without a popular mandate the power will always remain within the member states and that is not the intention.
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“European Union leaders rejected calls Sunday for a multi-billion dollar bailout for eastern Europe, saying that each country’s economic situation should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.” …………. would seem on the basis of this report that not so many Brits will be seeking employment in Eastern European and an ever increasing number of Eastern European job seekers will be motivated to seek employment in more fertile pastures! ………. When would you suggest that enough is enough Andrew Finch? and would you always prize the Pound in Your Pocket over the Sovereignty that so many died to give you!…
I would also like to add that I am one of those Expat Pensioners that are receiving a British Pension and I can categorically state that I paid into the system in full when many of those you mentor so enthusiastically were not even born plus I was on a firing line defending the said Sovereignty that you despise so much……………
In closing I would ask that keep your finger off the CAPS LOCK! ……. SHOUTING! … even on the internet is considered most impolite! ….
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bill you paid in to a system when you worked that went in to others who were on pensions etc now the people who are working are paying your pension etc it did not go in to a pot with bill’s name on it.
As an ex pat you prattle on about your country but choose to live in some one elses? . I do not i live in the great uk and proud of it and pay in to it. You say you fought for it so did a number of my relatives however they actually died for it .
you say i despise the Sovereignty of the uk absolute rubbish i live in it and i pay in to it .
Market forces will decide when we have had enough migrant workers they will go home if there is no work. I do think you confuse asylum seekers and illegals and as many bunch the whole lot together while snipeing from some one elses counntry
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bill you paid in to a system when you worked that went in to others who were on pensions etc now the people who are working are paying your pension etc it did not go in to a pot with bill’s name on it.”
Finch! …….. So by this logic your suggesting that I should not receive a stipend that I am Legally entitled to! … Digest this Finch! …. Neither Myself, My Wife or any of my Kids make any demands of the Social Infrastructure of the UK which is something that can not be said for those that you mentor so enthusiastically………..
“As an ex pat you prattle on about your country but choose to live in some one elses? . I do not i live in the great uk and proud of it and pay in to it. You say you fought for it so did a number of my relatives however they actually died for it .”
Finch! ………. Are you so naive as to suppose that I too do not have relatives who died in the service of defending the Sovereignty of the UK in two World Wars! …. and I myself saw active service in SE Asia! …….. What did you do?.. My reasons for opting to leave the UK are many but a prime one was to distance myself from individuals of your ilk! …………….
“you say i despise the Sovereignty of the uk absolute rubbish i live in it and i pay in to it .”
Finch! …….. You say you do not despise the ideology of the Sovereignty! ……. Balderdash! …… your rhetoric would indicate otherwise! ………….
“Market forces will decide when we have had enough migrant workers they will go home if there is no work. I do think you confuse asylum seekers and illegals and as many bunch the whole lot together while snipeing from some one elses counntry”
Finch! ……… If you subscribe to this then I would suggest you are a prime candidate for the “Five Card Trick” ……… and in closing Finch I would add that I am not “snipeing” from someone elses Country ….. but sniping as a British Subject from my own Country!……….
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bill, your anger is clear for all to read but never the less you are still sniping from some one else’s country. Where you have by all accounts imposed yourself but have retained your British subject status and I am sure you assume the country you have dumped yourself in are great full you honour them with your supreme attendance.
No I have not fought in any world wars hasn’t been any lately,or conflicts,campaigns as I am not in the armed forces and have never been called upon to do so .
It seems to me bill any ex pat is exactly that ex pat and as far as I am concerned you have no right what so ever to comment on the UK which is a great country .
Do you actually see yourself as an immigrant??.
And again I say any person from the eu working and paying in to the British system in my view is welcome . You have done what many say migrant workers do you have taken your money i.e. pension out of the country and and spend it in another where you are an immigrant sorry ex pat.
glass house and an over inflated opinion of ones own worth comes to mind bill
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I would also add many expats when they get the urge for medical treatment or become old and senile come crawling back to the uk for care and treatment paid for by the ilks such as me.
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