On Thu, 31 Oct 2013 09:52:36 +0000, Tim Streater wrote:

That's the exact opposite of what Roger just said.

No, it really isn't. Roger called for equality of treatment. That's
equality of treatment.

"restrict benefits for foreigners to that which a Brit would get in the
same situation in the foreigner's country of origin". That's exactly
what happens. The recipient of a benefit gets the rate paid locally.
Just the same as a Brit would get in the other country.

Of course, what Roger might have _meant_ is that somebody who happens
to be British should be entitled to the full British whack wherever in
the EU they happen to live...? After all, they're British, dammit, so
inherently superior.

I don't recall him mentioning what the Brits might get in those other
countries.

What Roger _really_ said...
But what we should have (but don't) is the ability to restrict
benefits for foreigners to that which a Brit would get in the same
situation in the foreigner's country of origin.

****ing hell, just watch Europe get tipped upside-down in the rush to
move around. All those Scandis on high benefits'd be straight to the
cheap-to-live warm countries, followed straight away by half of
Britain. Which, of course, would leave **** all "locals" to fill jobs
here.

And of course who would fund it.

Quite.

No, what anyone not in their own country should get in terms of
benefits is the lower of the local rate and what they'd get at home.

Not every EU country has _any_ unemployment or pension at all...

That would stop all this benefit tourism business (assuming it exists).

It doesn't. Isn't it odd that, a quarter of a century ago, a big-name
right-wing Tory was calling for people to "get on their bike" and go and
chase jobs, rather than waiting for them to come to them. Now, it appears
that's a _bad_ thing in the eyes of the right-wing of the Tory party...

If somebody's willing to get off their arse and turn their life upside-
down in a bid to earn money and change their family's lot, fair play to
'em. Does it really matter if they're going from Inverness, Kerry, or
Gdansk to London?