Shropshire Star

Letter: Unskilled migrant workers are surplus to the nation's needs

In response to the letter by Chris Toms over concerns at Ukip ideals. The writer goes on to say that the EU national and non-EU nationals that they have worked alongside have been hardworking, tax payers who contribute to the economy and Shrewsbury and Shropshire.

Published

I do not believe Ukip has ever said EU migrants are not hard-working individuals. The problem is do we have a need for thousands of unskilled migrant workers in the UK, hard working or not?

No, not in in my view and many others including non-Ukip people who would possibly agree with me. We have no need for them although I accept we have some employers who prefer very cheap, very easily exploited EU migrant labour over British workers and have no shame in berating their own countrymen in order to line their pockets and justify their actions.

There are very different rules regarding access to the UK for EU migrants and non-EU migrants.

EU workers have an open door to just arrive unskilled or with skills that are not required. Non- EU migrants coming here to work or even as a partner of a British citizen have a very high bar to reach in order to get access to the UK.

I would also say an unskilled EU migrant on minimum pay and in many cases in receipt of working tax credit, child tax credit and child benefit for non-resident children contributes very little through the tax to the system and in fact, I think it is agreed, now they take far more out of the system.

Ukip is often portrayed as people who yearn for a Britain of old, again not true. The only people who yearn for those days and have been given their dream where they benefit from this mass of unskilled, subservient, easily exploited, cheap labour force are the businesses that use them as cheap Victorian-style labour or the wealthy who yearn for the days of Downton Abbey.

Immigration for the UK has been a good thing over many decades, however as with anything good we can eventually have too much of it. It then becomes a very bad thing, as it is now.

Andrew Finch, Wattlesborough

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.