At long last, voters have been given a glimpse of a real future by one of the referendum campaigns. On the vexed subject of immigration, the 'Leave' campaign has proposed serious changes to our immigration system in the event of voters choosing separate the UK's from the EU.
At present, EU citizens are entitled to travel anywhere within the Union without limit; they can look for work wherever they like and claim benefits in whichever country they decide to reside. The UK Government has no right to restrict such migrants in any way and hundreds of thousands have arrived in the country in recent years, arguably depressing wages and adding significantly to the pressures on overstretched public services.
Immigrants from non-EU countries are treated very differently, being required to prove that they would bring much needed skills or other benefits to the UK economy through a 'points based system'. Leading names in the 'Leave' campaign are now saying that if the UK votes to leave the EU, the same system could be applied to all migrants, something which would instantly reduce the currently uncontrolled immigration into this country.
Inevitably, representatives of the 'Remain' campaign don't like this idea and say that the proposal would wreck the UK economy and could 'drive up' immigration; what they base this assessment on isn't stated, but it looks like nonsense to me. How could introducing proper immigration controls increase immigration ? Why would a universal 'points based system' wreck our economy ? To my mind, such a change would ensure that the UK is able to compete for the brightest and best from the whole world and is not ham-strung by its enforced adherence to EU rules.
Separately, Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of the TUC, has been heard this morning claiming that leaving the EU would cost UK workers something like £40 per week in lost wages; she bases this wholly unsubstantiated claim on the usual nebulous stuff about lots of economists an their forecasts, which the sane amongst us know is rubbish. Nonetheless, O'Grady rabbited on about the plight of workers in the event of a 'Brexit', quite heedless of the probable benefits to be enjoyed if hordes of low paid eastern European migrants were to be removed from the equation. She said nothing about the current economic turmoil in Greece, Spain, France, Belgium and other EU countries; why ?
The TUC has set out its stall long ago and is hell bent on remaining within the EU, basing their campaign on the same tired and highly questionable economic forecasts as other 'Remainers'. Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, Gisela Stewart and Pritti Patel and the 'Leave' campaign actually have a vision of a brighter future. Yesterday, the 'Leave' campaign drew attention to the fact that, as a member of the EU, we cannot even decide what to tax, highlighting our inability to remove the egregious VAT applied to energy bills because of EU rules; leaving would free us from such restrictive practices.
The 'Leave' campaign is confident and forward looking, not negative and stuck in the past. It sees a brighter future for the UK, while the 'Remain' campaign sees only more of the same, a continuation of what they see as the safe and comfortable world of the European womb.
We must see the light and vote for rebirth. VOTE LEAVE.
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