Spoken word poet Hollie McNish spells out what's wrong with most of the arguments used against immigration. She cites as her inspiration a book by economist Philippe Legrain called Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them.
Spoken word poet Hollie McNish spells out what’s wrong with most of the arguments used against immigration. She cites as her inspiration a book by economist Philippe Legrain called Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them. (Hat tip: Adam Mordecai)
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
85 Responses to “Next time someone claims that immigrants are destroying Britain, show them this”
lafayettesennacherib
I know a Polish poet who’ll do that for half the price.
LB
The average cost of insuring someone in the NHS is close to 2,000 a year.
Do the maths. Spending divided by the population.
Why are migrants from outside the UK just the test case. All migrants are to be included. They are all optional. Even from the EU. We know now that the freedom of movement is optional. See Cyprus. Same law applies to capital.
Migrants bring dependents, and from the Indian sub continent its the major form of migration bar temporary people studying.
Why not 25 years for no recourse to public funds?
You’re not putting a number on how much each migrant needs to earn to make sure that they aren’t a burden on others. An average number will do.
LB
Similarly if migrants are not accessing public funds then you cannot attribute government spending to them.
===============
Of course you can.
They are insured for the NHS. Its insurance. It costs 2K per year, whether or not they claim. That’s the nature of insurance.
They get free defense, that costs.
They get free policing, that costs.
Dependents – its free schooling, and in lots of places they are in short supply, plus their share of the common costs.
They are building up entitlements to pensions. If they are paying in more NI than the cost of paying out in the future – fine, if not its wrong.
Now the increase in the pensions bill, 2005-2010 went up by 734 bn a year. Total tax take now is 600 a year. There is no way migrants can pay for other people’s pensions as it is claimed
=========
If you do stop immigration then how do you fill the NHS jobs that these skilled doctors, dentists
=========
Salaries for Doctors and Dentists put them in the welcome list. Haven’t you been reading? If they pay more tax than they cost, they are allowed in and to stay. Doctors and dentists make the grade.
Nurses? Nope. We have to train up brits for nursing careers. There is a simple solution
Please give us a source for your figure of 60% of nurses are migrants.
David McKendrick
I don’t understand the concept of insuring someone in the NHS. I can get travel insurance which includes health insurance up to £2,000,000 for just under £200 for 6 months with Go-Travel.com. So that would be £400 for one year.
Migrants from outside the EU cannot bring dependents, apart from their children, unless the dependent is too ill to be treated in their own country. – This obviously means that they are too ill to travel. So migrants from outside EU cannot bring dependents. Only one person has been admitted as a dependent parent from outside the EU in the last year. http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/partners-families/citizens-settled/elderly-dependent/
The reason that 25 years with no recourse to public funds is that migrants would refuse to pay tax if there was no possibility of getting anything back. Isn’t that why the American colonists broke away from UK and had the War of Independence. They were being asked to pay increasing taxes but got nothing back.
The UK Border Agency reckons that a household with an income of £18,600 for a couple is unable to claim any benefits and therefore they judge that at that income threshold they cannot be a burden on the UK Taxpayer. This is on top of the no recourse to Public Funds for the immigrant member of the family. The level is increased by about £2,000 for each non UK citizen child in the household. http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/immigrationlaw/immigrationrules/appendix-fmse/
I have never claimed any Benefits in my working life. When I was unemployed I was barred from claiming for 6 weeks by which time I had another job. Then I was way above the income level for tax credits etc.
thesabbath
keep trying to rewrite history, Marxists, you can’t change the facts. The more State interference and social engineering you put in place to override human nature and tell people what’s good for them, the harsher the right-wing medicine will have to be in the end, to fix the problems your “good intentions, blind to consequences” hyper morality has caused. I for one cannot wait to see this whole rotten regime unwound and the interests of British people put first once again.