Letter: Hypocrisy of immigration policy

Wednesday 18th November 2009, 8:43AM GMT.

letter-letter-writer-writing-message1Letter: The hypocrisy of the Prime Minister’s announcement that the government intends to clamp down on immigration is breathtaking.

His party promoted unchecked immigration. Anyone who questioned that policy was silenced by being branded a racist, but now, while every other aspect of our lives is governed by strict and stifling regulations, foreign workers are exploited and worked like slaves.

Meantime, unemployment and the benefits bill for our own citizens climbs exponentially, but this is only legal immigration I speak of. No-one actually knows how many have arrived in the past 12 years and overstayed their visas.

Without the immigration authorities rampaging around like the SS, it would be impossible to find them and enforce repatriation, and the costs would be crippling. It would be better for all if there were an amnesty, but there won’t be because if there were, the scale of it would bury Labour forever.

Robert Jenkins

Stirchley


  1. 1
    woolibuga

    The last two decades of Political Criminal Incompetance have bought a once Great Nation to its knee’s! … but who was it that repeatedly voted these traitorous clowns in? ….

    Report abuse

  2. 2
    Brian McInnes

    To route out these illegal immigrants the immigration authoruties don’t need to go rampaiging around like SS. They need to go down to the SS (Social Security) and see just who is claiming benefits.
    It’s a joke that Polish and other EU workers claim child benefits for their children living in Poland etc, when there is no child benefit in these countries. It amounts to British tax payers giving away tax payers money to foreigners.
    Wake up politicians and start looking after the indigenous people of this country instead of throwing money at foreigners

    Report abuse

  3. 3
    woolibuga

    And yet the same Govt will not index the pensions of British Expats who paid into the System for many years and choose to live in Commonwealth Countries to be near their relatives (GrandKids) ………

    Report abuse

  4. 4
    Simon

    Brian McIness. Go down to the Social Security and what you’ll generally find is a predominance of white British people. Some will be out of work for legitimate and unavoidable reasons; many are just bone idle, unskilled or unwilling to do the jobs that are taken up by skilled, willing and capable migrant workers. Your benefit claim is the sort of right wing tosh that is always bandied about.

    Report abuse

  5. 5
    Keith

    This week immigration officials found six people from China working illegally in the Welshpool area. Some had overstayed their visas and some had previously been told to leave the country as they were failed assylum seekers. Only two were held in custody for deportation the rest were let out on bail. No doubt to dissapear to another part of the UK to work until discovered months or years later. Apart from being a make work scheme funded by the taxpayer what on earth is the use of an immigration enforcement department that lets ilegals go free?

    Report abuse

  6. 6
    Peter

    Brian, sorry to spoil your grand sulk with a few facts, but they are a) illegal immigrants are not entitled to benefits, so you are unlikely to find them at the DWP, b) Legal EU workers are entitled to some benefits (limited dependent upon which group of EU countries they are from) on the basis that they are paying tax and NI in this country. Similar reciprocal benefits exist across the EU, including for British workers working in Poland.

    Which would I rather have? A hard-working Polish person who has left his homeland to do the best for his family, or some Sun-reading, BNP-voting, semi-literate chav (but British through and through of course!) who claims every benefit under the sun and spends it all on beer, fags, and Playstations for the kids.

    I’ll leave you to guess the answer to that…

    Report abuse

  7. 7
    Andrew finch

    Well peter sorry to spoil your deluded view on things.
    Facts illegal immigrants use false papers passports to claim benefits major problem for the agencies and has been for the last 5 years.
    Correct some eu workers can claim some benefits as can uk workers abroad although what benefits and the value of the benefits is not on the same par.
    Would I as an individual who runs his own business rather employ an eu worker or a British worker on benefits , well i will take the british worker off benefits and put them back in to work and teach them the work ethic of course.
    Do I read the sun NO ,am i semi-literate no more than the PM the odd DR and dare i say the odd lecturer I have worked with.
    Do I claim benefits NO, Do I smoke NO, Do I drink beer NO,Do I buy play staions for the kids yes, I do have a good standard of living and can afford many luxury items.Do I vote BNP or UKIP that is my business, Do i mix with an array of people from all walks of life? yes will they vote for one of these ukip-bnp ? yes they will and I am afraid the stereo type view you have could not be further from the truth infact it is a little ignorant.
    And i will leave you to guess the answer will that left wing claptrap you have spouted get votes for ukip/bnp ?? .

    Report abuse

  8. 8
    Peter

    Andrew,

    There are always those who will try to defraud the benefits system, and inevitably some of these will be from elsewhere, but I can assure you that the vast majority are home-grown.

    In many cases the benefits available in other EU countries are a good deal better than ours, but are nevertheless available to us on a reciprocal basis. I don’t see anyone complaining about that, do you?

    And if it weren’t for employers running their own businesses, and keen to take advantage of the cheapest possible labour, there wouldn’t be the demand to employ the foreign workers that yourself and Brian seem to resent so much, would there?

    I think you’ll find it’s naked market capitalism that is to blame, rather than any ‘left-wing claptrap’!

    As for your standards of literacy, I can only suggest that you revisit your previous posting, with punctuation in particular in mind.

    Finally, sadly, those who are not well-educated from a political perspective will always be seduced by parties who put simplistic scapegoating at the heart of their so-called policies – history is littered with instances of this – but I can’t think of a single instance where following such narrow, bigoted policies ended well…

    Report abuse

  9. 9
    Andrew finch

    Peter
    Grammer punctuation etc point taken and happy to be corrected, but i am not perfect at everything unlike you it seems and it is not my bread and butter as it is for some.

    Correct some British employers employ eu migrant workers for cheap labour (I do not) and abuse that labour so stop it..

    Incorrect, many eu country benefits are better if not the same as ours , my view stop all benefits and they can do the same problem solved.

    Your final comment with regards those you see as not well-educated from a political perspective being seduced by certain parties. I agree many idiots put in labour and I have met a few idiots ready to vote tory most of these were not well-educated from a political perspective but held down very good jobs .

    Facts are ukip&bnp are seen by many as unacceptable but a growing number as acceptable as will be seen in the next ellection . Peter if the other parties wish to stop the rise in these parties they will have to address the issues that concern people . Yesterday i spoke to a chap who even you i think would listen to and as he said people in the UK should actualy be rather scared and the tory’s will not get in but the rise in the fringe parties will be clear for all to see .

    Report abuse

  10. 10
    andrew finch

    Peter,
    OH dear, rather high opinion of yourself having read your reply twice.

    Report abuse

  11. 11
    matt2

    The PM is only doing this as its suddenly dawned on them that they have little hope of winning the next election and have decided to do something foreign to them called listening to the voter.

    And can Peter be less patronising please? I read the sun and I have 13 O levels and run 2 businesses but alas Im not a chav!

    Report abuse



Free e-Supplements

TWITTER

Shropshire Star on Twitter Shropshire Star on Twitter

Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.

Lifestyle

Interactive Dining Out map Interactive Dining Out map

Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.

Entertainment

All the film reviews All the film reviews

Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.

OUR NEW APP

Get the new Shropshire Star app Get the new Shropshire Star app

Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.