Thought For The Day - Help me out here!
Perhaps someone more familar with present day Britain can help me out on this question.
Listening to Radio 4, I hear that some people in Britain are concerned that EU immigrants from Eastern Europe will put a new load on local authorities in the UK (Slough was mentioned) and cause a rise in council tax as a result of these new immigrants claiming benefits.
Let me tell you my situation. I am a British Citizen. I was born and raised in the United Kingdom. I worked in the United Kingdom and paid tax and National Insurance from the age of 16 to the age of 41 (a total of 25 years).
I moved to the United States in about 1988 and worked here, paying taxes and social security until 1998 when I became disabled as a result of a brain haemorrhage. Without question, the US government paid me a disability pension of about 1050 dollars a month (about 600 British pounds) although they tax away about half of this amount.
When I was in England a few years ago I visited my local national insurance office and explained my situation. Although my national insurance account is still intact somewhere in the suburbs of Newcastle, I am not entitled to any benefits from the UK until my retirement age, which is age 65 at the moment but who knows how that will change?
So, as I understand it, people can come into the country from Eastern Europe, not speaking a word of English, and immediately get benefits.
What am I missing here?
In the past, this has worked very much to British benefit, when a few years ago, under Thatcher, many British workers went to Germany to find work.
Now, it is the British economy that is booming, and we are sucking in workers from all over the world, especially Eastern Europe.
Much the same as the American economy relies on Mexican labour to do all the low paid jobs, Britain relies heavily on immigrant labour, especially seasonal workers, fruit pickers, NHS jobs, etc etc.
My home town is a holiday resort, and a large percentage of the jobs are seasonal. In the old days, people used to come down for the summer from places like Liverpool, London, and Birmingham. That source has long since dried up, and if it wasnt for Polish workers in our hotels, many of them would go out of business.
Most of the Poles I know are single, and here to work, because they are NOT entitled to any social benefits, but being single, they do pay the highest propoertion of taxes.
Of course, they do put some strain on social sefvices, such as doctors, but overall, the British economy gains a hell of a lot from them.
You mention Slough. Slough in particular has a history of accepting growth via immigration. Back in the 30s it was Jewish, then Polish. Since the war it was Caribbean then Asian immigration, and now, Polish again. Most European immigration is of a temporary nature, they come here to work for a period, then go home again, and now that Poland is in the EU, their economy will grow exceedingly fast, and suck them back in again, as did the Irish and Spanish economies a fewe years ago
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I am not opposed to reasonably controlled immigration into the UK and I do see the economic benefits but care must be taken for the good of both the immigrants and the existing population. Enoch Powell may have been a madman but having stayed in Bradford for a few weeks several times in recent years I have to think he did at least see flashes of the future...
Strange to think that the man responsible for large scale immigration from the West Indies was no other than one Enoch Powell when he was Minister of Labour. It was all his bloody idea in the first place, to solve a shortage of labour. Now where have I heard that one recently?
You are correct. Slough will have to pay higher Council tax, as will many other towns. This is because of the way the government block grant works. Basically, you get a figure based on the size of the local population, and the figures are always a year or two out of date.
This means that towns in the North of England, where the population is declining (we are all coming south) get more money than they are really entitled to, while towns with an expanding population (work force) get a bit less than they need. That extra population may be immigrants, or people moving in from other areas to fill an expanding local economy, ie places like Slough and Reading, where there is virtually no unemployment, but there is a shortage of labour.
We have the same problems here in Torbay with holiday makers. The towns population in the summer is twice what it is in the winter, thus we have difficulty with clearing double the rubbish, double the water, double the police, fire brigade, ambulances, etc etc. which the government does not provide funds for