On 06/11/2013 17:08, Adrian wrote:
On Wed, 06 Nov 2013 15:08:34 +0000, John Rumm wrote:

However in this case, is it not the EU that facilitated the mobility
of a population

Because, of course, people from Ireland, Scotland, the North of
England, the South West haven't been heading to the South East (or
wherever else's been perceived as lucrative) to seek their fortunes for
FAR FAR longer than the UK's been an EU member, have they?

They have, however the scale of the migration is what makes the current
situation different.

No, it really isn't.

Yes it really is...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_m..._Great_Britain
10% of British people have at least one Irish grand parent.

And the total population of the (what would become) UK then was what?

To put that into proportion, even the Daily Wail estimates a million
"Eastern Europeans" are in the UK - 10yrs after the start of the
accession wave. That's an average of only about half the net migrants to
the UK each year, about one quarter of the annual population growth - or
about one eighth of the number of births in the country each year.

and which groups have the highest birth rates?

that found our lavish public services and benefits system particularly
attractive?

So you're suggesting that the government should make hefty cutbacks to
public services and benefits?

We can't actually fund those which we currently provide, so it seems we
have the option of generating more revenue, or reducing spending since
an ever increasing debt burden is not sustainable. The revenue raising
can only happen as a result of private sector wealth generation - and
there are practical limits (in a developed economy) as to how fast they
can scale. If they can't keep up with the spend rate on public sector
costs, then you are left with only one viable option.

I wonder how you viewed yesterday's news that recent EU migrants have
contributed more to the exchequer, per capita and relative to benefits
claimed, than "native" Britons?

I must have missed that, however its still not solving the real problem
though is it? When you have areas where you can't get school places,
housing, access to medical care etc simply because the local population
has expanded way beyond that capacity of the local infrastructure.

I personally have respect for economic migrants - it takes a certain
amount of determination to uproot your entire family and move somewhere
unknown in search of life offering better opportunities. This is not to
say that one should dismantle boarder controls completely, or that
nations such as the UK which will be viewed my many as a land of
opportunity can withstand unfettered immigration. The EU ideal of free
movement of population works when you have a group of member countries
which can be viewed (at least on a broad scale) as largely equal in
terms of availability of work, and welfare. If fails when you have
member countries joining at a significantly different level of
industrial / commercial development.


--
Cheers,

John.

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