What next?
Warmer weather isn't quite on the horizon yet and I know that energy bills are still a massive concern to many so it seems appropriate that my first post of the new year coincides with the start of Big Energy Week. The Citizens Advice Bureau have some good advice on their website if you're struggling with paying your fuel bills. It's definitely worth a look. There is help available so please don't start 2012 worrying in silence.
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In an article for today’s Daily Telegraph, Chris Grayling, the employment minister, and Damian Green, the immigration minister, say that the large number of migrants now claiming benefits has been increased by the “organisational chaos” of Britain’s immigration system.
“It should never have been allowed to happen and Labour should be embarrassed by what it left behind,” they add.
Oh dear Andy. I think I warned you about this a couple of years ago.
Hi John - happy new year and sorry for the slow response.
I wouldn't believe everything you read in the papers. Neither Chris Grayling nor Damian Green have the best of reputations when it comes to statistics. As it turns out, only around 2% of the people referenced in the article were found to potentially not have legitimate status to claim working age benefits and many of the immigrants could have come in decades ago. The ministers failed to explain exactly what it is they believe to be "scandalous," nor what major change in policy would turn it around.
There do need to be strict controls on both immigration and welfare. Migrants coming to Britain to work should be able to support themselves, to contribute and to benefit the economy. We need the skilled workers that our economy needs. That's why Labour in government introduced a tough points-based system and closed the route for unskilled non-EU workers. We reformed welfare with a new right-to-reside test for all new immigrants from 2004 onwards.
We believe further reforms are needed, but that requires serious debate and not for misinformation to just be pushed about.
And if you want to get into accusations, David Cameron promised that net migration would fall to the tens of thousands. Instead net migration is going up. More deportations were promised yet the number of illegal migrants being turned back or deported has fallen since the election. And on, and on ...
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