When I was policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher we sought economic growth per capita as we wanted U.K. people to better off. We did not welcome the model of inviting in many people to do low paid jobs to boost GDP at the  expense of GDP per head. We sought to keep net migration to a maximum of  50,000 per year, itself a high figure requiring extra homes and public services. There were some obligations to take workers under EEC rules, which were greatly expanded into full freedom of movement for all EU citizens introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht of 1992  and the subsequent EU legislation under John Major and Tony Blair.
There does need to be clarification from the government on what it thinks an acceptable level of migration is, as most of it is legal migration requiring visa permits from the U.K. government. They need to clarify their view of what minimum income should apply for someone needing a work visa, and what planning has gone into providing sufficient extra  homes, NHS capacity, school places and  utilities provision to ensure new arrivals can have a decent income and living  standard without causing shortages for people already legally settled  here.  Treasury accounting which assumes GDP growth from new arrivals assumes they get a job, ignoring dependents, and overlooks the drop in GDP per head if many take low wage employment. Above all they surprisingly ignore  the large public expenditure and taxpayer cost of providing subsidised accommodation and free public services for many.
So far the only category of overseas migrant we know the government wishes to cut sharply are the foreign multi millionaires who wish to pay tax on non U.K. wealth  and income elsewhere whilst paying full U.K. tax on all they did here. It will mean a net loss of tax revenue and of investment in jobs and companies here, without reducing numbers of people much.
If the government truly wants to grow the economy faster and increase average prosperity it needs to welcome people coming to invest and create jobs whilst cutting back sharply on numbers wanting low paid jobs or state support. The U.K. response to the drivers shortage showed how putting pay up and increasing training could recruit many people from those already settled here. Where business is short of employees there needs to be a mixture of higher pay and measures for higher productivity and training to ease the shortage.
August 7, 2024
Good morning.
I have a better solution. Why not ask us, the people that MASS IMMIGRATION affects most on the numbers that should be allowed here.
Sit John you are well meaning but, you should never interrupt your opponent while they are making mistakes.
Apart from numbers, my only concerns when it comes to legal migrants is, that they are NOT allowed to access ANY public services. They do NOT have a criminal record. And that they cannot buy property less than ÂŁ1 million pounds.
British homes for British workers.
Reply I do not have opponents. I am seeking to influence the public debate, to help decision takers make better decisions with better outcomes. To do so they need better analysis of our problems and better solutions.
August 7, 2024
2 TierKier and his sidekicks have made it perfectly clear where their priorities lie. It certainly isn’t with the indigenous population. The liebour party are in thrall to open borders and will take any measures necessary to pay for this betrayal by squeezing the working population.
This was of course started by the conservatives who lied and cheated for 14 years so are in no position to complain.
We have to suffer under this government so they can be destroyed liked we have just seen happening to the not conservative government. I doubt if Starmergeddon and his gang of thugs can last full term.
August 7, 2024
Labour will now instigate Operation Scatter to disperse French illegal criminals across the country now Bibby barges closed down. That means putting these criminals ahead of local peopleâs housing needs. What could go wrong!!!
In 2002 the Labour Govt. under Blaire got service providers to âdistributeâ âasylum seekersâ around the country because the south east public services could not cope for the mass immigration Labour wanted to force on the country. HMOs and other accommodation was earmarked at taxpayers expense to forced mass immigration upon us to change the face of Britain. Here we go again as soon as they come back to power. Sadly, Tory party furthered this aim when in office against the public wishes and against the ballot box promises. So if the Uni party acts dishonestly against what its central promise is what do the public do?
Could the barges be used for low level criminal, non payment of BBC licence tax, instead of letting them totally out of prison?
August 7, 2024
Migrants already take priority.
I know someone working in a GP centre….
If a migrant turns up looking for a same day appointment and there aren’t any, the response is always that it’s for mental health reasons – then the centre is obliged to give them a same day appointment!
August 7, 2024
Two Tier Heathcare too.
August 7, 2024
Rather then giving a free medical & dental check-up upon arrival, we should be placing them in six months quarantineâŠ.we donât know what theyâre bringing in
August 7, 2024
Labour policy is to allow and encourage mass immigration, legal and illegal, but behind the mask that is also the position of those leading the Tory party. So I lay a lot of the blame for the riots on Boris Johnson, who let people believe that Brexit would lead to a reduction in immigration but then arranged for the opposite to happen.
August 7, 2024
Indeed and Cameron who promised us under 100k net but gave us 700k and Sunak who promised to stop the boats etc. but failed even to try to.
August 7, 2024
â There does need to be clarification from the government on what it thinks an acceptable level of migration is, as most of it is legal migration requiring visa permits from the U.K. government.â
Clarification is unlikely to come. Kier Starmer is winging it at the moment. Currently he is in tough talking mode.
Very different to what he said after Black Lives Matters riots in the USA though. There he talked about the riotersâ concerns in his best po-faced, serious tones. No mention of âthugsâ then. He called the riots with much loss of life and a huge financial cost a âpeacefulâ . He also said it was âturning pointâ. â The Labour Party stands with black communities in our country and across the world because black lives matterâ.
No mention of âturning pointsâ for his own British people after similar âpeaceful protestsâ though..
You might have to look carefully to find Starmerâs speech. Labour people have been working hard to push down the list on the various search engines.
August 7, 2024
reply to reply…’I do not have opponents’ – – tell that to the LibDems – especially in Wokingham!
Reply I did not stand again. I had self appointed Lib Dem opponents when I was an MP
August 7, 2024
JR stated not long ago that he did not stand because he did not feel he could support the Tory government.
I think that is wholly admirable.
Had I been the new Tory candidate in Wokingham I would not have openly hob nobbed with former and not very popular Tory leadersâŠ. who actually were not that far from LibDems anyway! Nor would I have trumpeted things like new futures for the tories and protecting the country abroad. LibDems always promise the earth at local level ( like stopping HS2) and invariably renege.
August 7, 2024
exactly why we chose to support Reform in Wokingham, with Sir John not standing it was always going to be hard to find a ‘Conservative’ we could support.
August 7, 2024
Yes.
I rather hit the nail on the head didnât I? đ
August 7, 2024
+1
August 7, 2024
The big problem the UK faces is the brain drain which is eclipsed by the gargantuan immigration figures.
500,000 useful people a year going out. 1,300,000 people of undetermined abilities allowed in (many of them useless or even harmful.)
August 8, 2024
K
Not just a Brain drain, many leaving are taking their money and businesses with them, so fewer jobs left for those arriving, and less tax for the government.
Plus many of those leaving knew the rules and were fully integrated into the system and society, unlike many who are arriving who will need to learn such, if they want to bother.
August 8, 2024
Reply to reply.
Agreed. So what went wrong last time ?
August 7, 2024
I am of the opinion that like the BOE, which you proved does not even believe in the wrong economics but simply flies by the seat of its pants with absolutely no comprehension of any of the results itâs actions will deliver, the âGovernmentâ is the same rudderless monsterâ.
Like beauty contestants, it has learned the lexicon for winning votes âwe want growth, peace, prosperity and kindness to allâ – but have not the vaguest inkling of how to deliver. Pelosi said âinflation is a world-wide phenomenonâ and believed it.
August 7, 2024
Lynne,
Good post. However, they do know how to deliver but have no intention because socialist left wing Treasury, OBR and ONS tell them mass immigration is key to grow tax economy!
Liz Truss was onto it. Unfortunately she failed miserable to get someone like JR to guide and advise. The difficulty I would have is whether to put JR in Treasury or chief of staff. Truss placed inexperienced Kwartang, DEI quota appointment candidate, to a key role. This is where all quota appointments go wrong no matter how nice they might be. BOE now quietly admits it was responsible for economy crash. Why has Bailey not been sacked? Bailey says he is going to be there for another four years!!
Two Tier Keir has already got more powers in pipeline for quangos to further socialist aims without parliamentary scrutiny and quietly further socialist stranglehold on society! That is the point of quangos!
Reply I offered to do either role for Liz Truss. I also proposed a tax cutting budget with a considerably lower deficit than the one she chose.She went ahead with excessively generous energy subsidies which I said should not extend to higher tax payers and two home owners second homes. She declined the spending reductions I proposed. Some of the spending reductions I suggested were linked to lower levels of low pay and no pay migrants.
August 7, 2024
JR, it cost her and us dearly. What a tragedy. I said before you were and are a wasted talent. Your flaw was party loyalty- left wing socialist dopes like Slimy Cameron, Treacherous May and Snake Sunak totally undeserving.
August 7, 2024
I had meant to write âthe BOE does not EVEN believe in the wrong economics âŠâ
Iâm afraid Liz Truss has no judgement, no intellect. She was an exceedingly poor candidate for what passes for conservatism in the PPC. For JR to be prepared to serve her in any way, when he is head and shoulders above her in every way, show a dedication (to the well-being of the British people) and humility rare in humanity never mind politics.
We owe JR a ton of gratitude for his lifetime dedication and the sheer volume of outstanding contribution he has made.
Frankly I am more angry with Johnson, who has a brain, and Truss who has an inkling of what Conservatism should be but was on a jolly appointing well-meaning âfriendsâ rather than the pure gold at her disposal, and the idiot PPC than I am with the Labour Party under Starmer.
Labour have shown their true colours. Nasty, vindictive, afraid and hopeless. We all now know (including all those lifelong Labour voters) that the âright-wingâ Conservatives were never the enemy. Imagine the astonishment of the average Labour voting family in Sunderland to find that they are âfar-rightâ – which is a worse insult that âthugâ.
The people in the BOE and the government are hollowed-out hopeless actors. Bullies. Standup to them and they will be beaten for good.
Different case of course with the machete-wielding men in black who control our streets and the kneeling Labour Party. They will take some beating.
August 7, 2024
Interesting. I got the impression that Truss was somewhat in favour of quite a bit of immigration, maybe I was wrong.
The one good thing to come from her short lived administration is that at least now politicians are talking more about growth than before. I hope the next Tory leader can use this to demonstrate / clearly explain how carefully thought through policies can achieve this as I do not think the new government will do much to achieve growth above what might naturally happen
August 7, 2024
Measures for higher productivity indeed. So a bonfire of red tape, scrap net zero, unblock the roads, halve the size of government, cut taxes, go for easy hire and fire⊠so apart from relaxing planning the complete reverse of the Con-socialists and now Kiers agenda.
Two tier Kier, pouring petrol on the fire of the civil disturbances and calling all protesters far right, criminals and thugs. Plus moving ahead with even more restriction on free speech will make matters worse too.
August 7, 2024
LL,
Point 1 addressed above. Quangos further aims of socialism with scrutiny of public or parliament ie red tape, EU rules regs and laws. Parliamentary EU select committee scrapped to keep all EU matters quiet.
Equality terrorism laws worked to keep public quiet, expect more of it to silence any and all opposition. That was the purpose of hate crime rot. You will not be allowed to voice opposition. People even now scared of being called racist because they do not want mass immigration with alien cultures forced on us. DEI, ESG and S.172 Company Act to force the change of nation state, culture and way of life as we know it. All public sector selection and promotion procedures based on this diversity rot and inspected to ensure this was and is the priority.
This forced âdiversityâ, aka change our culture, upon us so no resistance possible. From brainwashing children to university graduates that British culture and history is bad and nothing to be proud about hence advancing colonialism nonsense. These Govt. acts were not accidental but planned.
What most of us did not expect is that the Tory party over 14 years built on it rather than reverse it! Look at Slimy Cameron and Treacherous Mayâs horrendous record. It is in full sight. This is why I have difficulty with the few conservative MPs who did nothing about it during those 14 years.
August 7, 2024
âŠ.Without scrutiny.
August 7, 2024
Labour have already announced that they wish to reduce net migration by increasing the training and skill levels of those already here. They intend other measures to improve productivity such as the introduction of new technologies. They have also announced a new border command tzar and plans to process asylum applicants overseas
We must wait and see whether these measures will work.
August 7, 2024
They have also announced Iâll get ÂŁ300 off my electricity bill. Still waiting.
Reply I think the small print probably said by 2030 and was ÂŁ300 less than an unknown cost then!
August 7, 2024
And if we do get ÂŁ300 off our electricity bill, Roy, it will be added to our gas bill. The greenies’ plan is to make electricity a bit cheaper and gas quite a bit more expensive. That way some more people might be motivated to take up heat pumps, for which the high cost of electricity acts as a deterrent, especially in the winter months.
August 7, 2024
Heat pumps make almost no sense at all as you might get 2-3 times as much heat out as in but electricity cost more than 3 times as much as gas. This as turning gas, coal etc, to electricity cost that to generate with the wasted heat, transmission and other costs. Do not even same much CO2 either as we have no spare low carbon electricity free anyway. Not the CO2 is a problem. Plus they are slow to heat up so have to be left on wasting evem more electricity. Unless you want to wait a week for the house to warm up again after a weekend away.
Heat pumps also hugely expensive to fit and maintain, less convenient need larger rads for them to be efficient very inefficient for hot water. Plus people need most heat when it is freezing outside. This is also when they are most inefficient. Plus they create a huge, cold days, electricity demand so the grid and generating capacity need vast investment. Investment that is totally wasted for 80-90% of the year.
So now they plan to further rig the market by shifting cost to gas! Once again damaging the economy, exporting jobs, freezing pensioner and rendering the UK uncompetitive. Another great plan from Tow Tier Kier.
August 7, 2024
if GB energy gets a load of subsidies we say a slight reduction in energy costs vs what might otherwise happen. The subsidies would not doubt be paid from increasing taxation on “those with the easiest to raid wallets, sorry I mean broadest shoulders”
August 7, 2024
You have misunderstood what GB Energy is – it’s basically just a venture capital fund, it’s not going to supply any energy to us.
August 7, 2024
i think we know the answer ……….
August 7, 2024
They’ve also announced that the laws of physics have been cancelled as well as the laws of biology.
They can announce whatever they like …. none of it will “work” because they don’t want it to. They are Globalist-Socialists doing the dirty work of the UN/WEF.
August 7, 2024
Agree Donna
August 7, 2024
and downright lies are now ‘missteps’.
August 7, 2024
And the laws of economics, energy, physics, biology and indeed the letting & housing market they aim to destroy. They either have an evil intent to destroy the UK or are complete and utter morons.
More blatant racism from the dire Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan … âNow’s the time to please check in on your Black, Brown and minority friends, family, neighbours and colleaguesâ. Perhaps ask them and the white ones too if they have been forced off the road by Kahnâs pure evil, camera mugging taxes and do they need a lift?
August 7, 2024
Donna +1
August 7, 2024
May I open a âbookâ and give you generous odds?
August 7, 2024
Your comment on the government’s actions to cut the numbers of non doms in the UK confirms we have another lot of chumps in charge. It will reduce the tax take and their spending in the UK. The same is true of wealthy residents who can afford to move to more tax friendly places to live. The tax take will reduce. Their spending here will drop. Their investing in the UK will disappear. Labour party policy appears to rest on the dubious assumption that taxpayers do not notice when their taxes rise to exorbitant levels and that they will do nothing about it. Two tier taxing has a dire impact on UK finances, just as two tier policing does on social order.
August 7, 2024
If people see they can invest here profitably, they will! SIMPLE.
August 7, 2024
Of course they will. But it is widely anticipated that CGT will go up and new taxes on wealth will be imposed. Many of those affected are not waiting to find out. They have already left or will do so. These are the people who have the wherewithall and spare cash to invest.
August 7, 2024
Agreed, the signals have done the damage, not actions….YET.
August 7, 2024
Except you can never be certain a dire tax to death Con-socialist or Labour government will not steal your profits of you – if you make any!
August 7, 2024
âKeir Starmer warns social media firms after Southport – claiming misinformation fuels riots. Your petrol on the fire is the main cause of that Starmer.
The main misinformation here seems to be coming from Starmer who keeps calling everyone far right and pretending there is no too tier policing when this is blatant and coming from Starmer, the MSM and senior police all the time. âThis is not the time to discuss what happened in Southportâ said Kier. Yet he held a press conference about George Floyd and took the knee. Yet for this multiple murder of young girls no press conference not the time as he puts it. I shall discuss what I want to when I want to Starmer and I shall speculate as I wish too.
Clearly they will no be able to report what many politician say or much of what is said in parliament or by the collage of policing as so much is lies and misinformation. Starmer lies there is no two tier policing, Sunak says the Covid Vaccines are unequivocally safe for example.
August 7, 2024
‘Far right’ now being used as abuse. The BBC should be challenged to drop the term, or explain exactly why somebody or group are that.
August 7, 2024
I think the term far right is used to associate anyone who is conservative is vile. It is clear to me that most of the people engaged in violence are Labour supporters.
Elon Musk is quite right to champion free speech. It is the first amendment right in the US and irrespective how vile a persons comments might be they should be allowed to say it. Musk saw how the socialist democrats helped by govt institutions, FBI, DoJ, stopped information about Hunter Biden being known,mit also prevented any challenges to govt dictatorship over covid. There were govt deliberate lies prevented from being questioned! Same in UK on social media platforms, but no outcry of suppression of free speech or questioning from Two Tier Keir or other authoritarian socialists!
There are laws to challenge what is said. Socialists do not like or want free speech. They want to control everything including what you say or think. We saw this with Levison. Socialists do not want transparency or openness, hence rule by quangos, Equality terrorism laws, hate crime nonsense when there are substantive laws, commissions, czars, all to force compliance.
August 7, 2024
See to refer to nearly every one, even many Labour voters. Surely no one wants two tier policing or vast payment to people who have come here illegally many of who are criminals and never paid anything it.
August 7, 2024
Are people who give cover to child abusers âfar-rightâ? Just asking as the BBC has a track record of same.
August 7, 2024
I am astounded that a 16 year old British girl (Sky Brown) has won a gold medal for the skateboarding whilst suffering a dislocated shoulder. What grit!
I was unaware that skateboarding was an Olympic sport in the first place and secondly, that we had athletes of Sky’s calibre to win yet another gold medal for Team GB. Well done!
Reply Your usual level of inaccuracy. She won a bronze medal. Congratulations to her and all the other UK winners.
August 7, 2024
I far prefer skate boarding to boxing – be it male, female or especially mixed sex. But each to their own I suppose, I am generally in favour of freedom of choice.
Elon Musk ramped up his row with the UK as he, surely correctly, branded the prime minister “two-tier Keir” and questioned if it was “Britain or the Soviet Union” after a man was apparently arrested over Facebook comments.
In a later post, aimed directly at Sir Keir, Musk asked “why aren’t all communities protected in Britain?”.
In a response to a video appearing to show large crowds of threatening masked people gathered outside a pub in Birmingham.
So why indeed is this Two Tier Kier? The two tier agenda supported by Kier, the senior police and Evette Cooper is the main causes of the protests.
See New Culture Forum podcast – Two-Tier Kier declares war on British People. Who are obviously all far right racists as he obviously thinks.
August 7, 2024
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued the following statement:
âRussia urges London to refrain from unjustified and disproportionate use of violence against protesters and to ensure the respect of Britons’ right to freedom of assembly.â It send an accompanying video which showed migrants attacking a native Brit.
August 7, 2024
Indeed.
August 7, 2024
obsessed with gold.
August 7, 2024
Yes.
And he probably thinks that skateboarding is still regarded as âprogressiveâ.
It actually seems to be imbued with incredibly complicated politics.
Bizarre.
August 7, 2024
SG & SJR,
I would happily buy Sky Brown a Sakara Gold but she is not old enough to legally drink it.
August 7, 2024
Does John not realise that the dam has broken? There’s no going back, he assumes there is. Labour aided and abetted by Tory lethargy and complicity will politicise and weaponise mass immigration to drive irreversible changes. The issue has gone beyond the issue of labour supply requirements and has become cultural, ideological and religious. It is what the left is. It is the actual rubbing our noses in it for cultural and political profit.
I note the term ‘Anti-terror’ laws. This is the face of the true Left. Idiots voted these fascist lowlifes into power and they’re gonna exploit their powers to the max. If Labour go down this route this country is finished forever. All will fall under these laws, even this blog. The majority will become be classified as inciters.
Jess Phillips’s comments, what can one say about this individual. Speechless.
The Tories refusal to confront Labour’s woke, cultural Marxist agenda has brought us here. Where’s Cameron? May? Johnson? King Charles? They’ve all slithered away. No doubt Charles will be counting his wind-farm rental cheques.
We’re witnessing the disintegration of our country in real time
August 7, 2024
Never mind Cameron, May and Johnson, who are figures from the past. What about the future Tory leader? What stand have Cleverly, Stride, Jenrick, Badenoch etc. taken on the impact of mass migration and where we are heading if it continues? Stride and Jenrick have attacked Farage, Cleverly and others have attacked social media, but as far as I can see only Patel and Badenoch have critiqued two-tier policing or the lack of integration of immigrants. In other words, two Tory leadership contenders are already aligned with Starmer’s policy of restricting freedom of speech on the internet, and the majority of them won’t address the problems caused by mass immigration.
August 7, 2024
They just donât want to hear what we want to say.
And they think they can change reality by stopping our mouths.
August 7, 2024
Continuity uni-party âŠ.no good for democracy or for the future policies on immigration
August 7, 2024
Agree – and everyone apart from our politcians knew it was coming
August 7, 2024
+++
These last (10 maybe?) years have been torture.
Like watching the proverbial slow car crash.
August 7, 2024
+1 now the pain and counting the cost.
August 7, 2024
That dam broke long ago, and nothing has changed over the past quarter century except to get worse.
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2023/12/09/politics-is-about-votes-as-well-as-voice/#comment-1423480
“Tidying my files, a letter sent to the Daily Telegraph on May 26 2002 … ”
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2023/10/10/labours-conference/#comment-1413538
“… seeing that Labour would âbuildâ, including the creation of new towns, I pulled out this letter which I had printed in various local newspapers across the south east in March 2005 … “
August 7, 2024
Jess Philips had to call the police to her Count because her constituents were objecting to being represented by âa womanâ.
She is afraid of them and I donât blame her. But she has now lost the sympathy of those across the country who would have supported her right to stand for Parliament and represent any constituency that voted for her.
August 7, 2024
Are you sure, or was it ‘objecting to being represented by that type of womanâ.?
August 7, 2024
Yes to all you say SJ, but that is thatcherite conseervatism which has little resonance with wet consocialists or the real thing we have running the government. The people are begining to show their disquiet at the same time, but do not confuse it with the hooligan and sectarion rioting that has become popular since the tragic slaying of three innocent children in Southport. I do not see how a very left wing government representing only 35% of the electorate can govern the UK for the benefit of 100% of the electorate. The current situation has all the ingredience of a major political crisis. I wrote latterly yesterday of a possible way forward, but as it reduces the power of politicians and increases that of the people I do not expect it to happen. At its root the present crisis is down to the last conservative government failing miserably to be Conservative.
August 7, 2024
agricola :.
Only around 20% of the electorate actually as the turnout was 60% and Labour gained 33.7% of the votes cast.
August 7, 2024
20% of the vote yet 80% of the seats with which they now have a mandate to destroy our country. And they will. And we call ourselves a democracy. Elon Musk was right – we might as well be living in the Soviet Union.
August 7, 2024
The Maastricht Treaty was an added EU scourge against the UK.
August 7, 2024
Freedom of movement was established by the Treaty of Rome. Contrary to today’s post, Maastricht had nothing to do with it. It astounds me how on the very few occasions you Brexiters actually do detail, you prove you haven’t got the first clue about the EU and how it works
Reply Just not true. Maastricht established European citizens with the free movement right. Prior to that some employment movement was legal under single market rules but national governments still had some independence on benefits and borders. There was a rush of legislation post Maastricht. try reading it.
August 7, 2024
Lemming, why are you lying? What are you trying to achieve? We saw the gates that politicians opened with Maastricht and Lisbon.
August 7, 2024
+1
August 7, 2024
You are quite wrong. Free movement has been a central principle – maybe THE central principle – of what was the EEC and is now the EU ever since the 1950s. We signed up to it fully when we joined in 1973. Maastricht and Lisbon made no change at all to the foundational principle of free movement. As ever, you Brexiters don’t understand what you hate so much
August 7, 2024
Lemming
Free movement never happened in the 1950s nor 1960s nor the 1970s
You are trying rewrite history.
The facts are there.
Do some proper research.
August 7, 2024
What a load of untruths…. very sad if you really believe that load of cobblers.
August 10, 2024
There’s a difference between hating something and preferring your own.These details matter.The hate slant is fictional and is the sort of careless speak to incite a snowball effect.
August 7, 2024
The Treaty of Rome stated the objectives, but the treaties and enabling acts implemented the horrors slowly. Maastricht was a massive turning point. In addition to the Queen and all her subjects becoming common citizens of this alien âstateâ Lamont managed to get an opt out of phase 3 of Monetary Union. That is the actual introduction of the Euro as the currency. But we were forced to run our economy âfor the benefit of the EUâ rather than for the benefit of the British people. We have struggled since and not really understood why.
All those who voted for Maastricht should be forever condemned and I would like to have their names inscribed on a plaque at Traitors Gate.
August 7, 2024
As ever, Sir John is spot on.
Increases in immigration compresses low paid salaries (as they oversupply low-paid jobs which compresses those salaries accordingly) and that has multiple economic and social consequences now and in the future. I believe the Treasury are dominated by leftists who, just like Marx, always think they are clever yet they prove to be wrong and regressive every time. The Treasury must be de-politicised to stop the mistakes happening.
August 7, 2024
+1. And the Treasury must be held responsible for ALL financial policy and decisions, whether they choose to sub-contract their authority or not.
August 7, 2024
âThere does need to be clarification from the government on what it thinks an acceptable level of migration isâ
Starmer will not make that mistake, the mistake the Conservatives made repeatedly, of defining an acceptable number in their manifesto and then being totally unable or unwilling to match it in practice. He may go as far as saying he wants to bring the level âdownâ from what the Conservatives managed but that is a pretty safe promise, he could hardly make it higher.
August 7, 2024
Mass immigration – the policy that dare not speak its name.
The assumption is that immigration is good and we are not permitted to question if this is true.
If an immigrant earns less than they contribute then that is not positive unless they are doing a job that no one else can (not will).
Immigration increases costs, decreases contribution per head and stops us having the conversation about 9 million economically inactive Brits who could otherwise be filling the roles that immigrants are needed for.
Time for hard decisions and tough measures which include benefit reform,. No immigrant should be permitted to bring dependents into the country.
August 7, 2024
The policy is global social engineering.
Other countries have Guest Workers: they are invited in to work not to permanently migrate with their extended families and gain instant access to public services.
If the Government simply wanted an expanded workforce, they could invite a fixed number of Guest Workers and, when their visa expires, insist/enforce them leaving.
They don’t because they want to change the face of the UK forever.
August 7, 2024
Social engineering by our government is the biggest threat to freedom & democracy
August 7, 2024
I think we are well on the way back to the 1970s. You cannot give large pay rises without first improving productivity which this government seems to have forgotten about. To tax millionaires out of the country is also a good old Labour way of running the country. A rocky ride for some of us who have saved hard for retirement but will have to pay for this lot and their Marxist ideas. (Marx was also an immigrant who did not work to produce anything worthwhile for this country so we seem to keep making the same mistakes.)
August 7, 2024
The âgovernment view on an acceptable level of migrationâ is clear enough. We know they prefer an EU type model of free movement, and Mr Starmer has committed to an unspecified number of new towns. So their view is that unlimited inward migration is acceptable.
There is no indication whatsoever that this view is going to change in any meaningful way. Itâs why, even if the current wave of protests is curbed, it will be repeated and likely worsen.
August 7, 2024
We keep hearing the riots broke out because of miss-information in the media. When that miss-information was circulating. Why did the authorities not simply correct it, instead of continuing to hide the identity of the vile child murderer.
August 7, 2024
As the saying goes, a lie is half way round the world while the truth is still putting its shoes on. The amount of false information circulated about the individual involved ought to be a source of shame to those making it up, but, I expect, that it won’t be. One only has to look at the words and actions of the likes of ( named person) to see that some people glorify in spreading lies. Will he ever pay his libel bill?
We live in a country where there is the rule of law and due process. It was down to the judge in the case to decide whether or not to release the name of an individual who, at the time, was under 18. That is how UK law works. The judge decided to release that name as the individual was about a week short of his 18th birthday, at which point the name would be released anyway.
I’d rather live in a country where an independent, non-politicially appointed judiciary makes these decisions than one where some random politician decides.
August 7, 2024
Unfortunately, thanks to Blair’s “reforms” we now have a politically active judiciary.
August 7, 2024
Yes,but we expected the Tory party to reverse Blaireâs destruction of our nation. Instead they built on it!! The candidates for leader of the Tory party are appalling!
August 7, 2024
They did indeed build on it. They got almost every single thing wrong for 14 years. Net zero, size of the state, tax levels, ever more red tape, lockdowns, net harm vaccines, botched Brexit, immigration levels, the war on landlords, car users, rigged. energy markets, rigged healthcare, education, housing, two tier policing⊠and now Starmer is the same but worseâŠ
August 7, 2024
So there are insufficient funds to pay out a winter heating allowance to the elderly. Thankfully there is enough in the kitty to keep paying out tax breaks to the better off for their electric vehicles.
August 7, 2024
and will the hotels hosting the illegal immigrants have their heating turned off?
August 7, 2024
They could turn the heating off in bedrooms in the daytime, as Brits do, and put the attendees into English classes run by the local volunteers who support all of the immigrants; they could cook their own lunch in courses on how to cook low-cost nutritious food with the vegetables available here. They could learn English by also learning about British culture, habits and attitudes.
August 7, 2024
Have you not heard of the ECHRs
August 10, 2024
I have been asked to learn Urdu.In majorca at present. I have been learning Spanish for 4years and although all staff are multi lingual I wouldn’t dream of going to another country and imposing my own language and culture.The difference in cultures is refreshing.
August 11, 2024
The difference in other countries is that you have to pay for your own interpreter, we should do that in the UK instead of forking out for everyone, it would be no different than Spain and France.
August 7, 2024
D+L : Not forgetting the Net Zero plan to install 600,000 heat pumps/year by 2028 which will cost ÂŁ4.5bn/year in subsidies. Another rich manâs toy like evs and solar panels.
August 7, 2024
Amazing how a quickly a fool and his money can be parted.
August 7, 2024
A great summery of the last 40 years JR, short, sweet, and to the point.
I can only hope the present MPâs in Parliament take the points you raise, debate them sensibly, and put in place a workable solution, but I am afraid it may all fall on deaf ears because it is too simple.
Politicians do not do appear to do simple, use common sense, or seem to understand human nature or mathematics, otherwise we would not be in the mess we are now, which it appears is going to get worse in the next five years if the last few weeks are anything to go by.
Politicians always seem to want more control and more spending, when the opposite of simple and better management of existing resources is required.
Afraid I see more chaos ahead.
August 7, 2024
Blair opened the floodgates with no mandate. Cameron knew that the policy was deeply unpopular which is why, despite intending to govern as Blair’s Heir, he used it as a “wedge issue” to get elected. An acceptable level of immigration is the one he “promised” in 2010 and was elected to deliver: tens of thousands pa.
But of course that was before Peter Sutherland, UN Special Representative for Migration, issued instructions that “The EU should do its best to undermine the “homogeneity” of its member states via immigration.”
The policy to effectively dismantle the borders and change the face of Europe forever via mass immigration comes straight from the Globalists at the UN and WEF. No branch of the Westminster Uni-Party has any intention of stopping the eradication of England and the English.
The best we can hope for now is that riots / civil unrest will make the Establishment review policies on multiculturalism / integration and will stop the two-tier policing and change policies to force integration. But I’m not holding my breath: we’ve already seen that Two-Tier-Keir intends coming down hard on the white working class and will take the knee to “minority” violence.
August 7, 2024
Possibly the whole idea is to crash the system. Get a blank sheetâŠnew start!
But it is said that there is a load of money to be made from human trafficking âŠpaid for by us and massive profits from housing, security, transport, medicine, dentistry etc etc.
So it is not likely to be given up without a fight
A bit like the plague..masksâŠjabsâŠPPE gear.
And govts get massive pressure from all churches, universities and charities to keep the ball rolling.
Or so I have read.
August 7, 2024
They want to do everything possible to avoid crashing the system (including provoking wars)because when the current system goes,the replacement will be one led by China and Russia.
August 7, 2024
And we will live to see it. Letâs hope to God that China keeps Communism and that we therefore fall into the orbit of Christian, capitalist, democratic Russia.
At the meeting of African nations in Russia a friend who works for the Russian FO told us that they were tasked with asking African leaders how they could help them. What did they want? He was shocked when African leaders said they wanted âPutin to lead themâ. He told them to âtake Putin if they couldâ – I had to explain that the Africans want âfreedom from having to govern and workâ.
I appreciate that British based people never believed this, but now surely you can see the hordes coming here to live of the wealth created by pale males? Or as Ramaphosa publicly calls them âhis white boysâ.
August 7, 2024
Funny, a couple of years ago I read Catherine Beltonâs âPutinâs peopleâ.
I have just started Sarah Rainsfordâs âGoodbye to Russia: A personal reckoning from the ruins of warâ.
I do not know exactly why but I think I would prefer to trust people who spent 1 (SR) and 7 (CB) years in Russia reporting on the country rather than a contributor here who has not told us what her credentials are that allow her to call Putinâs Russia as a âChristian, capitalist and democraticâ.
August 7, 2024
Excellent and correct.
August 7, 2024
You tell us that migration is necessary to grow the economy, and I can partly understand that. Plus, sometimes, with good migration, we get the most ambitious and hardworking people who struggled to make it in their home nation. But how do large groups of new benefit claimants grow anything? How were all those people in Birmingham there on a Monday afternoon at the Sky News event? Why weren’t they at work?
Shouldn’t we specifically look at which immigrants aren’t working and cut those numbers, allowing people that are coming to work and grow and not just claim, these Bulgarian criminals building massive homes for themselves off falsely claimed benefits, so big and unusual it was their police chief that tipped us off not our employed staff at the HO!!! Now we find out they can use legal aid. How many of those English people this week will get full legal aid and two posh lawyers with fancy cars?
Reply I argued migration of those on low pay an no pay does not grow the economy!
August 7, 2024
reply to reply …..you keep sounding more and more like a campaigner for Reform!
Make a resounding move – JOIN REFORM.
August 7, 2024
He’d get my vote
August 7, 2024
Reply to reply:
Only 2,700 out of 3.5 million had golden visas ie the brightest and the best we were all promised. Tory party MPs knew this and did⊠nothing. Small meek platitudes to show voters they were trying. Disgraceful. 1922 committee, ERG could and should have forced change not allowed continuity Blaire! We had the option to vote for Labour!
Reply ERG could only force something if the Opposition parties voted with us. They wanted more migration than the government so we could not win a vote.
August 7, 2024
If you import the third world, you become the third world. They know it and thatâs the plan. Just as they know that CAGW is a scam and that their Net Zero âsolutionâ is impossible and will bring impoverishment.
If the current government does not allow referendums on migration and Net Zero then they too will need to be removed by the next GE. Fortunately there is now one party in Parliament that can do it.
August 7, 2024
It is difficult to criticise a government that has just taken the rains what ever their political colour.
I think we need to give time for the reality to fall into place due to the political attitude of the previous government and their political and economic thinking
Reply It is necessary to criticise even a new government if it does something wrong or fails to correct the very things electors complained about in the election. Democracy only works with strong Parliamentary opposition. It was Labours unwillingness to vote against the last government that prevented MPs like me from getting the government to adopt better economic and Home Office policies.
August 7, 2024
yep – the Uniparty lives and breathes.
August 7, 2024
Correct JR. But there was and is no difference between Tory and Labour only presentation and empty rhetoric.
August 7, 2024
Sir John
The only parameter seemed to be more of the same as nurtured by what some called a Conservative Government over the previous 14 years. This time around it is more of the same without the pretence that some may get evicted. Criminal or not you are welcome the UK taxpayer will get âforcedâ to pick up the bill.
Starmer is just continuation Sunak with vindictive personal ideology thrown in. Donât think that the Conservative Leadership contest candidates will change anything, they are still the problem as they have already proved, they own the mutual responsibility of pushing the UK into being a one-Party Socialist State.
August 7, 2024
Spot On
August 7, 2024
Dear Mr. Redwood,
Thus far, there has been next to nothing from the government about acceptable levels of migration. I’m sure they hoped not to have to talk about it let alone do anything – rather like the last government. In refusing even to consider that mass immigration might be a factor behind the recent rioting and blaming all the disorder on the Far-Right, Starmer confirmed that he intends to do very little and probably wishes it would all just go away so he can return to his managerialist comfort-zone.
Of course, refusing to acknowledge and deal with the underlying causes of the riots, ensures they will only resurface at some point – probably when another Southport-like atrocity provides the trigger.
Perhaps, I am being a little unfair on the new Labour government. After all, it is taking some action to deal with migrants. The Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, announced at the end of June that “Every part of Britain will take its fair share of migrants.” She insisted “All authorities must house successful asylum seekers who will also be eligible for places in the new 1.5m units of social housing and homes.”
Talk about pouring petrol on the fire…
August 7, 2024
APJ
Where are the local authorities going to get the money and housing to home all of these so called immigrants who I guess will now take priority over those who have been on a list for years, and who may have paid into the system for years as well.
Are there plenty of empty schools for those who have children ?
Are there plenty of beds in our hospitals, or do we simply put them at the front of the queue and make the locals wait ?
August 7, 2024
Shameful humbug and double standards from two tier keir and many Labour MPs on this issue.
August 7, 2024
Every day the MSM feels obliged to refer to multiple outbreaks of “far right” violence. There has been another series of outbreaks however – extreme snobbery.
A succession of reports over several years has claimed that white working class boys underperform every other group. They do not, as far as I’m aware, tend to write to The Times. Has it occurred to anybody that poor educational achievement and frustration at their inability to express their concerns might explain why so many of them resort to violent tactics? The liberal elite seems to enjoy riots when other, more favoured groups indulge, calling for investigations into reasons why “society” has failed them so miserably. White working class rioters, however, are just “thugs”. No investigation necessary.
August 7, 2024
I would like to point out that Mr Starmer is a Neocon Liberal and from the same stable as the rest of the PM as far back as Mrs T, as John has pointed out Mrs T was for GPC but rest have been for GDP at any cost to the British people, you vote for people who do not care about you and you seem to do it every time to yourselves, maybe your not as educated as you think the Neocon won again.
I would also like to point out that the people who were protesting last week were hard working people who were influence by other people into doing what they did. It never what you think it is, the establishment are making fools of you and running rings around you, you should really educated yourselves on how to win a election for the British people and not the Neocon Liberal and their Billionaire influence media. Next time try to vote for the British people and not for Globalist NeoCon Liberal, try it out
August 7, 2024
1027am and there are already 57 comments. Perhaps our kind host has more time than usual to check comments this morning, or perhaps it shows just how important this topic is for us readers? While we write heartfelt comments, others riot. Just different ways of expressing similar anger and frustration.
3yrs ago I went to live in Austria. Even as an EU national, until I got a job I had to prove I had my own medical insurance. Oddly though, the thousands of illegal migrants (and legal jobless ones, from Ukraine), get similar benefits to those they can pick up in the UK.
August 7, 2024
There’s only one difference between the EU and UK, and thats the I.D. card and registration ….they can hide in the UK
August 7, 2024
Hide?, they parade in full sight, and expect better than the citizens already here. Worse, the Establishment and social organisations led by the left, encourage the better care package than the poor.
August 7, 2024
Yesterday I started a comment with “There is a compelling economic reason why the Tories, including Boris Johnson, have deliberately increased legal immigration”, but that should really have been “compelling fiscal reason” because the aim is to expand the tax base and improve the government’s finances.
That may be an incorrect expectation, and it is moot whether or not it will also improve the economy.
There was an article back in April:
https://www.cityam.com/politicians-cant-get-brits-to-make-babies-immigration-is-the-answer/
“Politicians canât get Brits to make babies â immigration is the answer”
“… modelling suggesting that maintaining a âreasonableâ dependency ratio between workers and pensioners would require annual net immigration to start at 500,000 and rise over time, leading to 37 per cent of the country being foreign-born by 2083, up from 15 per cent today … ”
So why is the government discouraging British people from having more than two children?
Reply This theory does not work if you invite in a lot of low pay and no pay migrants. There is no upper age limit on migrants. The government is not discouraging people from having more than 2 children unless their plan is to live on benefits.
August 7, 2024
It now cost upwards of ÂŁ180,000 to raise a single child in the U.K. if it is educated in the State system. British people, being responsible, are not having children because they canât afford to.
August 7, 2024
Some of our women will not have children, for various reasons, and therefore to maintain the population without net immigration it is necessary for some other of our women to have more than two children, and they should be praised and encouraged not condemned as welfare parasites. If we were experiencing a population explosion that might put a different complexion on the matter, but according to that author we face “demographic collapse” and that is why we must bring in large numbers of other people’s children from abroad.
August 7, 2024
what a load of nonsense. Among the reasons not to have children, or fewer than wished, is the pressure on low income or attainment to provide the wished for quality of life for the family. Since the quality of living for families has gone steadily done for many years it will only get worse with a diminishing economy and unemployment rising, fuelled by the staggering growth of immigrants. Zero hours contracts, focus on minimum wage and living wage only serve to reinforce the gloom regarding size of family.
August 8, 2024
Actually it is little different from the idea that we can import as much steel as we want from other countries so we do not need to produce our own steel, and similarly with consumer goods and food and energy and so on. Simply add “people” to the list of cases where it is thought by the elite that imports can beneficially substitute for home production and you have the current UK immigration policy, which is to deter the native population from having children and instead import other people’s children.
August 7, 2024
This article rightly deals with the economic issues surrounding immigration.
However, the social effects are even more detrimental. A high immigration rate leads to unhappiness.
August 7, 2024
From Guido
https://order-order.com/2024/08/07/southport-stabbings-hero-tells-starmer-to-address-immigration-concerns/
Jonathan Hayes, the man who tried to disarm the Southport stabber and was knifed in the leg as a result, said Starmer must listen to peoplesâ concerns on immigration rather than blame the right as the root cause for the ongoing riots.
âI actually donât think that the trouble on the Right has got anything at all to do with the Southport stabbings. There appears to be a strong undercurrent of discontent for some time about the levels of immigration. And this is just a catalyst or a trigger, but I donât think itâs the root cause. I do get dismayed when I hear Keir Starmer talking about [how] the police are going to come down with the full force of the law on these people. But they are not actually talking about the root cause, and they need to start listening and understanding that. They need to address the cause rather than the symptomsâŠâ
Starmer should probably take note of these commentsâŠ
Every one gets⊠But not those in Parliament, those â we pay and empowerâ to keep the Country safe and secure. The HoC has become âcloud cuckoo landâ heads in the cloud look at me dreamers, a fantasy World with dreams of being rulers, Socialists Dictators forgetting that in a Democracy they are there to serve. We have lent them our authority and they are abusing it with personal vindictive ideological dreams
August 7, 2024
For the past 20 years and more big community pharmacy chains have been on active recruitment drives across poorer EU countries and offering pharmacists significantly less than their UK colleagues. This has been great for the multiples but has led to real terms cuts in pharmacists’ salaries. The situation was tempered a little after the Brexit referendum but the big High Street pharmacy contractors have a vested interest in driving down pay by creating a labour surplus. There have been and are frequent situations where locum pharmacists in particular have been unable to find work and newly qualified pharmacists are offered lower and lower remuneration each year. Rather than a standard minimum salary level for migrants to come to the UK would it not be better to tailor the level to specific professions and occupations? That way big business might be prevented from simply undercutting UK earnings.
August 7, 2024
355 illegal economic /criminals arrived in the yesterday from the safe country of France
August 7, 2024
Is it not a case of cause and effect? For years, the people of the UK have been promised both less immigration and more controlled immigration. But the Conservatives did nothing to reduce numbers seriously except talk a good fight. Labour then cancels the Rwanda plan, says 90,000 immigrants already here can apply for asylum and then calls protestors far-right thugs and criminals. No doubt some are, but the simmering anger that led to the conservative wipe-out just 5 weeks ago is now getting people out on the streets as the Labour approach sinks in!
If Labour don’t face up to the cause of the problem it will get worse and worse!
August 7, 2024
The much-cited figure for net migration needs closer examination, as to who is doing the emigrating. If we have 200,000 workless immigrants a year from Africa and the tribal lands of the Khyber seeking benefit-dependency here, and 150,000 emigrants per year who are white English middle classes heading for professional jobs in Australia, Dubai and the USA, and wealthy retirees leaving the UK for Andorra, Cyprus and Monaco, that will not do.
Does the Home Office harvest data that would identify the demographic of emigrants? And if not, why not?
August 7, 2024
Hi sir John
The statement of people not having children needs to realise that people can’t see a futcher for our children and their children
Where as there is a part of the population
Who have 5 children then these 5 children have five children 5×5=25 and then there children have 5 children that’s 25×5 =125
125×5 = 625 and so on that’s why immigrants population grows quicker than non immigrants Plus the yearly addition of 600,000+ eventually they will achieve their aim and that is to eventually to have the dominant population. This is happening world wide but shows up in this small country
But those responsible are blind to whats happening
So GOD HELP OUR COUNTRY
August 10, 2024
We now are not in the era of 2.5 , children,own house,own car .The people who won’t stop migration don’t care.They don’t like majority opinions.They are a law unto themselves . Our Home secretary should be doing something now.The landslide victory was essentially a cry to stop migration.Yvette you need to listen to your majority of voters and completely stop any migration for the time being.The riots reflect how strong the feeling is.Its ok to imprison the protestors.The police have nothing to do with allowing immigration and should not be targeted.There are going to be far more types of protests unless you stop immigration.
August 8, 2024
Let’s compare immigration with other Western countries for 2023 (problem in all Western World but for 2023 significantly worse than UK)
UK: 1.2 million
France: 183K
Australia: 15K
Japan: 330K
USA: 1.6 million
Germany: 663K
Netherlands: 165K
Italy: 155K
Sweden: 95K
Countries with similar immigration rates as UK (per capita)
Ireland: 78K
Switzerland: 182K
August 8, 2024
However, total immigrants is similar problem for all these countries overall:
United States 50.6M
Germany 15.8M
United Kingdom 9.4M
France 8.5M
Canada 8M
Australia 7.7M
Spain 6.8M
Italy 6.4M
August 8, 2024
Japan seems to have far fewer immigrants than Western countries. But appears to be paying a price for that in terms of the economy. But’s what’s going to happen to Western economies 5 or 10 or 20 years or 30 years down the line when it comes to the cost of public services (and other issues)?
August 8, 2024
Ed
That is exactly the problem with a pay today Ponzi type scheme.
It needs more and more people to join to pay for tomorrows expenses/costs.
August 8, 2024
Perhaps we need a Conservative think tank about Happiness & Well-being (and a Conservative Rep for this in the Conservative Party and perhaps even a Minister for this)
(Radical times requires radical solutions). 3 main reasons:
1) Analysis shows that unhappy people are considerably less productive which means we have to have more immigration – which costs the tax-payer billions in long-term but less productive people also cost the tax-payer in other ways, to the tune of billions as well, both long as well as short term.
2) Unhappy people are less entrepreneurial, costing tax-payer billions
3) Unhappy productive people also cost the tax-payer billions because unhappiness is related to bad physical and mental which costs the NHS and other public services billions.
And connected to this is how Tories should be working closer with those in the churches, media, arts and education to promote healthy Conservative cultural values such as: strong family values, work ethic, taking responsibility for self, patriotism and so on