There's very little evidence of the 'magnetic pull' of our benefits system. But there is evidence which suggests the Prime Minister wants to win back disillusioned Tory voters who've been attracted by UKIP.
There’s very little evidence of the ‘magnetic pull’ of our benefits system. But there is evidence which suggests the Prime Minister wants to win back disillusioned Tory voters who’ve been attracted by UKIP
Another day, another announcement about tightening benefit rules for EU migrants.
Writing in the Telegraph today, David Cameron says the “magnetic pull” of UK benefits needs addressing so that people come to Britain for the right reasons.
Immigration should “put Britain first”, he writes, before setting out plans to ensure that EU migrants will be unable to claim benefits for more than three months unless they have “clear job prospects”.
It should be obvious by now that these sorts of announcements are about politics more than they are about money. It’s about the ongoing attempt to lure back disenchanted right-wingers who have been drawn to UKIP like wasps to a jam jar.
I say that because most migrants from the EU do not come to Britain to sign on, but to work. That isn’t conjecture; it’s what the statistics say. And this is what you would expect – who spends hundreds of pounds on a flight and uproots themselves from their home and family to claim a relatively small amount of money in another country?
But Britain has the ‘most generous welfare system in Europe’, I can hear you say. Well not according to the Economic and Social Research Council’s Centre for Population Change (CPC):
There are a number of other EU countries that are just as likely as Britain (if not more so) to exercise a ‘magnetic pull’ on migrants.
EU migrants cannot simply sign on to claim Jobseekers Allowance, either, but must pass a tough Habitual Residence Test set before they can make a claim.
And importantly, Britons are significantly more likely to claim benefits than EU migrants. According to a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) report from 2011, 6.4 per cent of those claiming working aged benefits were non-UK nationals, meaning British nationals were two-and-a-half times more likely to be claiming working age benefits than non-UK nationals.
UK nationals are more likely to claim benefits than foreign migrants right across the board, as the Guardian reported last year (and as the graph from FullFact demonstrates):
“Of the 2 million net migrants to the UK from the eight eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004, just 13,000 people have claimed jobseeker’s allowance (JSA). This figure was not disputed by No 10.” – The Guardian, March 26 2013.
Last year a European Commission report concluded that there was no evidence of systematic or widespread benefit tourism by EU nationals migrating within the EU, including to the UK.
It’s fitting that Cameron should choose the Telegraph for today’s article. Last year the paper falsely claimed that there were over 600,000 unemployed EU migrants in the UK. However as this DWP report from last year demonstrated, the number of EU migrants claiming Jobseekers Allowance – the main UK unemployment benefit – in February 2013 was 60,100 – a tenth of the number described by the Telegraph as ‘unemployed’.
‘Unemployed’ also doesn’t automatically mean ‘claiming benefits’. A European Commission report from last year found that 84 per cent of non-active EU migrants in the UK were relatives of an economically active EU national, meaning they were almost certainly mainly being provided for by spouses, partners and parents (children over 15 and students are included in the figures).
Last year the Telegraph itself was unable to find a single migrant that had come to the UK with the specific intention of claiming benefits. It could only find those who has previously worked but who had signed on after losing their job. And why shouldn’t they do that? They’ve been paying into the system, after all – and that’s at least partly what the safety net is there for in the first place – to help those who’ve made a contribution when times get tough.
In reality there is very little evidence (none that I can find) of the ‘magnetic pull’ of our benefits system. There is quite a lot of evidence, though, which suggests the Prime Minister wants to win back former Tory voters who’ve been attracted by UKIP.
40 Responses to “Message to David Cameron: you have no evidence the benefit system acts as a ‘magnetic pull’”
Just Visiting
James, I wonder if you have considered the health-system aspect, to coming to the UK, versus going to other EU countries.
Might be worth you doing some research on that, for a future article.
For example: http://www.gov.uk says: of Holland:
> Within a four month period of arriving it is mandatory to purchase health care coverage. The basic will cover general medical care, such as visits to local GP or hospital and basic dental care. Prices start at approximately €100 per month. For more extensive policy coverage, to
suit individual needs you can shop around to find the best insurer and best price.
Spain:
>..The basic monthly fee is 60€ for the under 65s and 157€ for those aged 65 and above. However, prescriptions are not subsidised at this rate so you would pay 100% of prescription costs.
Just Visiting
Last one James I promise :<) (I've been googling for an hour. It's a shame you didn't do the same and include wider facts and numbers in your article…)
In 2013 the Guardian said 1 in 10 of socially let house goes to migrants.
That's an important theme here on LFF, the problem of social housing availability.
Steven Preece
It’s really very simple. This government has no interest in ‘evidence’ and picks and chooses (or should I say manipulates?) statistics to suit their political agenda. This announcement has nothing to do with migrants but more to do with dismantling the welfare state by turning the public against anyone who needs it. First they came for disabled people, then British born unemployed. Now it’s the turn of migrants and soon it’ll be the working poor who claim tax credits. Actually,.. scrap that… it’s begun already. What’s happening to our NHS is no different. Run it into the ground first then privatise it. People need to wake up.
John Mangan
Just another lie and a photo opportunity for the Prince of Lies.
Neil Wilson
It’s not so much benefit tourism as ‘low wage tourism’. Unfortunately that is not what many on the left want to hear – since they are so wedded to the idea of open borders and unlimited immigration.
Yet the UK productivity is low, business investment is low – both of which are caused by business having unlimited access to cheap international pools of unskilled and semi-skilled labour. The number of hours demanded in the UK started to go up in 2004 at exactly the same time as unlimited access was widened.
Immigration only really works if you are stealing high level skills from another country that they have invested time and money in. Which is a ‘beggar thy neighbour’ approach.
Improving the lot of the world poor should not involve the poor travelling thousands of miles to another country out of desperation. The poor’s lot should be improved in their communities.
As usual it would seem that both sides of the debate are cherry picking evidence to fit their world view.
To solve the problem we need to limit immigration along the lines of Australia and Canada *and* have a much improved social provision across the regions – preferably via a Job Guarantee and decent social housing. Then perhaps we can reverse the chase to the bottom.
But to get there a few of the left’s sacred cows will need to be despatched.