Saturday 18 January 2014

A & E Charges for new immigrants not just unnecessary, but immoral


We are 19 days into the aftermath of a lifting of EU regulations permitting Romanian and Bulgarian migrants enter our shores and the first real threat of action has been sent by David Cameron and his Conservative government
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A proposed cap on the new Romanian and Bulgarian migrants expected to move to the U.K that would limit usage of emergency services intended to prevent what has been called “benefit tourists” would also aim to deter immigrants aiming to “abuse free movement” as Theresa May, Home Secretary’s office said last month.

However, the tactic is no more than an attempt to pander to the populist view that immigration is not only bad for the U.K, but unsustainable.

In actual fact, there is very little evidence to suggest immigration would be anything other than a benefit to our struggling economy and the denial of this is ignorance bordering on immorality.

Numbers gathered from the Labour Force Survey reveal that just 2% of immigrants who have joined the country since 2010 claim unemployment benefit. 2%! Where’s the “benefit tourism” there? If anything, the migration of workers (which conversely, has made up 98% of the immigration population in the last four years) has helped fill the U.K economy full of people happy to work, families happy to support their new system.

Additionally, the Economist report that thanks to increased taxes to migrants and the fact that majority of said migrants are younger in age, the tax money brought in by their arrival vastly outweighs the money spent by the government on healthcare for its new citizens.  


Cameron andhis home office have since been slammed by members of the EU including JoseManuel Barroso, who criticised the U.K’s approach to immigration as “chauvinistic” and “scare-mongering” while Austrian leader of European Parliaments Socialists Hannes Swobada claimed that “Conservatives and the far-right have started a distraction debate that spreads fear, hatred and misinformation.”

David Cameron and his Conservative parties head in the sand attitude towards what is an economically beneficial movement smacks of a stubborn child refusing to go to the dentist despite painful teeth.

Cameron talks of the greatness of Great Britain and at the Conservative party conference in late 2013 he spoke of “we”, how “we” led the world in industry, culture and sports. What he fails to realise (or does, but doesn’t acknowledge) is that one of the huge factors in Britain’s modern success since the end of the Second World War is thanks to migration.

The “Great” in Great Britain in 2014 is multi-culture, from Reggae and Ska music that entered our shores with Carribean and African migrants following WWII and the curry houses, Chinese restaurants and many more things that came with our Asian counterparts.


Denying immigrations deep impact on the very foundation of British society is ignorance bordering on blindness. Propagating that ideal by openly differentiating between Romanian migrants and British nationals through the medium of healthcare is not only factually incorrect, but immoral.  Migrants pay taxes, go to work, support their families and support our economy. Their economy. Long live Great Britain. Long live immigration.

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