One of the defining characteristics of an independent country is it has its own policy on who can come and live and work in its territory. Offering citizenship is a privilege. Agreeing to someone coming here to live is a big commitment by the state, as every legal migrant becomes eligible for benefits, full free NHS care, help with housing and much else. Some estimates suggest around £250,000 of capital stock is needed to support each new arrival when you take into account housing and public service provision needed.
When we were in the EU we were linked closely to the continent by a policy of freedom of movement. In other words our own borders were not under our control, as anyone admitted to any country in the EU gained an entitlement to come to the UK as a result. It encouraged a policy for some businesses of recruiting larger workforces on lower pay by bringing many lower paid people into the UK to carry out the jobs. More of us wanted the companies to aim for higher productivity allowing higher wages by putting more into automation and into training so each staff member added more value and had better machine and computer support.
Today we have introduced a policy of allocating permits to come to live and work here based on skill levels and pay levels in areas of scarcity. These may need tweaking to get the full effects from encouraging more local employees with higher productivity and pay levels. There remains important outstanding business. There are too many people traffickers plying an evil trade in small boats across the Channel to bring in illegal migrants which needs stemming. There are too many difficulties in removing foreign criminals who have come here . The new Prime Minister needs to give full support to the Home Secretary to legislate and administer a solution to these obvious areas of weakness.
July 26, 2022
Good morning.
Under this government both legal and illegal immigration has exploded. The government response is, with the collusion of the MSM, is to bury it. Thankfully there are those who have highlighted this issue and have shown this government to be lacking, drawing up evermore complex and unworkable schemes in the hope of being seen to do something when, in reality, it does nothing.
Other countries do not have the same problems. Why ? Because they know that their electorate will not stand for it. In Australia they implemented a tough policy on illegals. It worked. Both I and others here have offered possible solutions. If we cannot get the French to take them back, send them somewhere on UK territory where they cannot absconded and come to the conclusion that their attempts to gain asylum have failed.
Legal migration is still out of control and agreements with the likes of India to allow more here show that. Also those 6 million Hong Kong Chinese ??
Remember, those immigrants, both legal and illegal cannot vote. We however can !!
July 26, 2022
+1
July 26, 2022
Memo to fake Tory PM, donât unpack your stay is short.
July 26, 2022
+1
July 26, 2022
Quite right, Mark. Nothing is going to happen, despite all the talk. It is all out of control.
Report yesterday that the NHS cannot cope with the numbers trying to use it. Is anyone surprised- not to mention the shortage of housing, and our own homeless on the streets. The taxpayer is forced to pay for all this, and has no say in the matter.
No wonder people don’t know who to vote for, or indeed, whether to vote at all!
July 26, 2022
There will be over a month of talk and debates from the two candidates and those who want to influence them.
Nothing will change though. They know it and the public know it. So the show goes on.
A real leader, like Victor Orban, would take action but we donât have one.
Immigration is not just an economic issue either and itâs time politicians recognised that.
July 26, 2022
If the UK remains in the ECHR our govt and courts are not in control of our borders! ECHR is part of the subservient agreement Johnson signed.
JR,Why do you persist peddling false hope when your party and govt have no desire to take back control? Mass immigration is your hidden deceitful policy and has been for12 years!
July 26, 2022
It is not so much the European CONVENTION on Human Rights that is the problem, but the European COURT of Human Rights in Strasbourg that interprets and administers it. Journalists and politicians stupidly conflate the two by referring to both as the ECHR, when the Court should be abbreviated to ECtHR. The difference is utterly crucial. The FATAL FLAW of the Government’s Bill of Rights (BoR) is that it remains within the Court’s jurisdiction.
The BoR sensibly explains how the ECHR should be interpreted, so that British courts should, in future, come to more sensible verdicts (and if they don’t, the government can always amend the BoR to oblige them to do so – that’s the benefit of controlling one’s own legislation!). But by stupidly remaining within the ECtHR the BoR becomes meaningless, as those who lose their case in the UK will just appeal to Strasbourg and win.
The government should openly declare that foreign judges can NEVER have ANY authority over the UK (just as they don’t over the US) and therefore in future the Convention will only be justiciable in BRITAIN by BRITISH judges and under BRITISH law. But of course our Conservative government is too weak, too cowardly, too pathetic, too internationalist and too treasonous to say this. That’s why I cannot support them. When we get a new PM who actually stands up FOR Britain and AGAINST foreign powers, then I will vote Tory again.
July 26, 2022
”But by stupidly remaining within the ECtHR the BoR becomes meaningless, as those who lose their case in the UK will just appeal to Strasbourg and win”
Spot on X-TORY, and every MP knows that to be true but still wants to remain in the Council of Europe ECHR……maybe they think its like a little bit of us staying within the EU ?
July 26, 2022
Has not Ms. Truss noy pledged to take us out of the ECHR? I understood she has.
July 26, 2022
not
July 26, 2022
I understand Ms Truss has pledged to take us out of the ECHR.
July 26, 2022
Both candidates have stated that they’ll stay within the ECHR
July 27, 2022
So did Cameron, May and Johnson before elected and did nothing thereafter!
July 26, 2022
We can only vote for the candidates offered, so if they are all pro-immigration your only choice is to not vote for a main party, or not vote at all. The main parties know they can manipulate democracy in this way, and is the reason that Parliament is so unrepresentative of the electorate. The secondary attack on democracy is to renege on the manifestos upon which they were elected.
July 26, 2022
The Reform Party is looking good….that or the monster raving loony party
July 26, 2022
@Mark B
Yep … Our Government may be leaving a space for the rise of a new party. Not a good idea.
July 26, 2022
Why is it not a good idea? I for one am politically homeless. The current main parties are all the same and enthralled with the net-zero nonsense. We need a new party to shake them up.
July 26, 2022
I agree Christine. I have never felt so desperate over politics in my life. There is no alternative. They all think the same. How much longer can this once brilliant country be abused by politicians and those wielding power?
July 26, 2022
Yes, the current government is a cause of despair and depression. They are filthy TRAITORS who are surrendering British interests to our foreign ENEMIES. Just look at the sale of OneWeb to its French rivals, who will now control and destroy our satellite industry. It is an act of monumental TREASON and not one MP has spoken out against it. They are the enemies of the British people.
July 26, 2022
@Christine
Many of us are politically homeless.
In our search for a new party …. would any new party do ?
There is no guarantee we would end up with someone warm and cuddly such as Mr Farage.
My thought is that Mr Sunak would be more of the same and the hope of the Conservative party rests with Ms Truss. Time will tell.
July 26, 2022
It’s a very good idea.
If people can’t see now the need to kick the establishment up the proverbial then what right do they have to complain when they are yet again treated with contempt.
It is as much the electorates fault that we are where we are for having the unfathomable idea that voting for more of the same from the same people is the only way!!!
I suppose it boils down to whether or not people let themselves be intimidated and brainwashed into believing voting for any real change will be ‘extremism’.
It seems they’d much rather be Lemmings
July 26, 2022
Sir John says the system needs “tweaking”, we say it needs robust action today, not tomorrow. Net reductions, not increases. After 12 years you have had the benefit of the doubt. 1 million, yes 1000,000 permits to enter in a year is out of control immigration, we don’t want anymore people, the country is full. Try getting a Doctor or dentist appointment. School placement or any other tangible public service provision. Enough. Housing, NHS crisis. No immigration crisis. No more left wing appeasement, action this day! Get out of the ECHR and get rid of the freeloaders crossing the channel. A 10 million increase in the population in the last 20 years is mostly down to you, the Tory’s a former conservative party.
July 26, 2022
and those 1 million will see the need for more to be brought in to cover the shortages there demands on all services will create.
July 26, 2022
Ah, then we have all of Hong Kong, Afghanistan, and Ukraine all welcome under the socialist Tories!
But we do not have the fish to feed them Johnson gave our waters to France and the EU!
I see Ireland is now in the process of stealing from farmers like Holland. Globalists tell us: You eat insects and be happy.
July 26, 2022
We’ll all be wearing a ‘Chinese Communist Mao Suit’ soon….and driving chinese electric scooters
July 26, 2022
We see a new article about NHS neglect every day, often with fatal consequences. It can only get worse knowing that NHS recruitment is difficult but yet the government allows record immigration into the UK. This is deliberate neglect. You cannot get a quart out of a pint pot and you cannot stretch the existing essential services across even more millions of people. Who is going to be sacrificed in order to accommodate the much wanted (by the government) immigrants? I suspect it will be anyone who is retired. Your party may even become popular with NLH!
July 26, 2022
Spot on.
A trade deal should not be used to blackmail us into taking even more people in, such as the one with India.
I believe Modhi announced way before talks on trade that there would have to be more immigration from India.
Patel also I believe has some notion of a ‘living bridge’ to India.
We didn’t want a living bridge with Europe, so why would we want this. Is it a personal preference?
There seems to be a lot of policy being drawn up on individual MP’s personal preferences rather than the wishes of the people who put them in their jobs.
The talk of illegal immigration obfuscates the huge numbers coming here legally. They would like us to keep quiet about both.
As for voting, the franchise is offered to Commonwealth Citizens and I believe without reciprocal rights in many places for ourselves. Then of course it’s not so easy for us to just go a-wandering into other people’s countries even if they are Commonwealth. Naturally the more that come then the more that is going to skew the whole political landscape to attract their votes.
It seems to me yet again we’ve been dealt the rough end of the stick.
July 26, 2022
In the case of India there is a lot of migration that evades the statistics under the Mode 4 rules, where people come to do a job in the UK for anything up to 12 months before returning, thus not being counted as migrants (who stay for more than 12 months). Of course, once they have had a holiday they can come back next year. Mode 4 confers significant tax privileges including exemption from National Insurance levies. Mode 4 migrants also have a high propensity to remit much of their earnings, rather than spending in the UK.
July 26, 2022
Yes the way Indian negotiators have run rings around the British negotiation has been sad to watch. We all far too many Indian nationals in, and the excuses are wide and varied.
We do not need the Indian outsourcers flooding the country with their workers, we should not be giving them the visas or the tax perks.
It’s another area where our ruling class is absolutely clueless.
July 26, 2022
We will never control anything whilst we remain in the ECHR.
July 26, 2022
Another topic not discussed in the debate yesterday.
July 26, 2022
Correct. But don’t hold your breath, it was May who signed us up to the UN no illegal immigration policy.
Politicians like immigration it makes it look like GDP is increasing.
July 26, 2022
Question John. 6 million EU citizens applied for residency and last year alone you issued visas for a million people. We are short of staff in all sectors so where are they.
My friends care home was predominantly EU citizens but now is 90% Brits. Are we paying billions in benefits to people who are no longer in the country.
Something doesn’t add up.
July 26, 2022
Yes we are Ian.
July 26, 2022
Exactly how can we have shortages when huge numbers of people have been repeatedly brought in, to cover shortages!! Makes your head spin doesn’t it.
An interesting read through Hansard and a debate on the so called shortages, way back under Blair.
It was pointed out by a Conservative party member (before they hitched their wagon to the mass immigration circus) that figures showed that we did not have a workforce shortage then and forecasting showed even up to 2020 we still wouldn’t have a workforce shortage. Also pointed out that mass immigration is not the way to correct any imbalance.
So the narrative shifts to lack of skills, and if we do have such a lack whose fault is that. No doubt the narrative will shift again.
July 26, 2022
The ECHR is not the problem.
The problem is the Human Rights Act, the repeal of which by the new âRights Billâ, I look forward to.
July 26, 2022
So which of your fourteen rights are you looking forward to losing the most?
To the peaceful enjoyment of possessions?
To a fair trial?
To privacy?
To freedom of association?…
July 26, 2022
Who said anything about having no rights?
It is about our courts being the ultimate authority like in nearly every other country in the world.
And we will have a Bill of Rights instead.
August 3, 2022
What is hilarious (as usual with anything by P2) is that between 1975 and 2018 there have been 547 cases of UK citizens calling on the ECHR for âredressâ, less than 13 cases for each of the 43 years of EU membership.
Given the present state of the tribunals in the UK and the crying out against all things judicial by some UK people, I just hope that P2 will never have to go through the different levels of the UK justice system and have to call on his Bill of Rights to get repair for an injustice.
Isnât it depressing that today 03/07/2022 the news is about Archie Battersbeeâs parents having to go to the ECHR about their sonâs life support withdrawal.
commonslibrary.parliament.uk, 18/12/2019
July 26, 2022
My understanding is that the candidates , and well all the conservative parliamentary party, want to run the ECHR alongside the UN human rights and the newly propopsed UK Bill of Rights…..that should be interesting (for the immigrantion lawyers)
July 26, 2022
Given the Attorney General, Suella Braverman, has stated leaving the ECHR is a requisite in gaining control of illegal immigration, it would be nice if Sir John will write whether he thinks that’s correct, incorrect, or, quite reasonably, doesn’t yet have an opinion due to it not being an area of expertise.
Reply I agree a U.K. Act clarifying our powers over illegal migration might be necessary to ensure success.
July 26, 2022
Then why hasn’t your Government done this before? I mean, you’ve had 12 years!
July 26, 2022
Reply to reply. We’ll can someone please get on with it and stop talking about it and take some meaningful action? Honestly its pathetic.
July 26, 2022
Both leadership candidates have stated that they will remain in the ECHRs !
July 26, 2022
No Shirley, the lack of honesty is pathetic by this pathetic party and govt.
July 26, 2022
So far “taking control of our borders” means shouting at France for taking control of its own borders. Still, isolationism and lack of influence is what Brexit means. You voted for it!
July 26, 2022
The key point is – and even the more responsible press have missed this – is that if the UK were still a member of the European Union then it could require France to improve the position, as such impediments to travel would be a treaty breach on several counts. It would also be far easier for France to do that anyway under common membership conditions.
It cannot now do a single blind thing about it, however.
July 26, 2022
Why do we need to be part of the EU club to ask our close neighbour to act correctly
July 27, 2022
You can ask until you are blue in the face.
There is now no reason at all for them to take the slightest interest, however.
July 26, 2022
France and Germany do have a history of quickly complying with EU instructions after all.
July 26, 2022
To be fair, Mr Redwood did mention queues in the sea!
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/watch-john-redwood-dismisses-project-fear-warnings-of-queues-at-dover-330487/
The trouble with Splendid Isolation is that the Prime Minister’s influence stops halfway across the channel. The rest of the foreign policy is also a joke. It just hopes the USA agrees with us. The Tories old chum Morrison, in Australia, lost recently. India and South Africa were recently being very chummy with Russia and China at a Brics meeting. So much for the Tory’s great hop the “Commonwealth”.
July 26, 2022
You are joking? How has France ‘taken control of its borders’ when there are thousands of illegal immigrants in Calais, and probably elsewhere too. France should make them apply for asylum, then process them and deport the failures. The French care about nobody but themselves and just want to pass their self inflicted problem onto some other mug, ie. the UK. Although, in their defence, Boris does seem to invite all the illegals as he rolled out the red carpet big style. Rwanda was never intended to work. It was just another expensive stunt to fool the electorate.
July 26, 2022
Correct Shirley.
July 26, 2022
@ Gary Megson – quite right, for the timid establishment has not yet adapted to the post-Brexit realities, rather continues to behave as if we were still vassals of the Evil Empire when shouting at France and lacking influence was the norm.
July 26, 2022
The trafficers are working with impunity on French territory and there is evidence of collusion by the French authorities.
Take off the blinkers.
July 26, 2022
Yes, very unfair on the French, who intimidate human rights organisations on the activities of their Eastern borders, as they repel the invaders. Unlike us however, they can get away with it.
I would ship the migrants straight back to their home countries and bill their embassies for the cost. Don’t blame the French for the UK decision to encourage the migrants with a taxi service across the channel and a welcome in hotels with free healthcare.
July 26, 2022
Quite scandalous the left wing politicos are. Where’s my families 4* Hotels, free food, pocket money and 3 square meals a day. Free health and dentistry etc. We’re all tax payers, something they are not!
July 26, 2022
No, it means being upset with France for not manning it’s border sufficiently well at a time of increased work load that had been long anticipated. Nothing to do with Brexit, everything to do with either incompetance or deliberate aggravation. My sons took their families to the West Country last week and apparently had very enjoyable holidays. If the French don’t want our tourist business (which seems to be the case) perhaps it’s time we followed their lead and holidayed closer to home?
July 26, 2022
This was going on even while we were in the EU. Remember we paid France quite a lot of money for some fencing!!!
Speak to lorry drivers who had to run the gauntlet all those years and see how much protection the fencing afforded them.
Illegal immigration and smuggling of people has been going on for a very long time, far too long.
This was both when in the EU and even prior to that.
We should be the worlds experts in how to deal and deter, but like with most things what the rest of the world thinks about us seems to be the political players only concern.
Not so the French, if it doesn’t suit them they do what does and everyone else can whistle.
It isn’t the fault of the French, the fault is rooted here in Parliament, every charity, get rich quick lawyers, mouthy celebs and much else besides.
The bottom line is everything is seeming to be done to encourage more to come by any means available rather than deter.
July 26, 2022
Your party’s stance on this issue is determined by Labour and the Left. There is nothing left to say.
Indeed the entire Tory party is an extension of the Left. It is the civil world that is having to absorb the cost of Tory government appeasement of the cultural and political left that is dragging this nation into the progressive mire. This is the real issue.
Today, the party believes in absolutely nothing of any consequence except free-lunch bribery
July 26, 2022
Rather concerning that Liz truss if she wins will appoint either simon Clarke or Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor. I donât know anything about mr Clarke. Mr Kwarteng, despite being articulate, has not been a good business Secretary. His dept is an interventionist mess, dealing with it is very difficult and it seems to operate in a haphazard and capricious manner. She plans to appoint James cleverly as foreign secretary, surely not the best candidate available! By contrast it is reported she will exclude Michael Gove, the minister who has achieved most since 2010. (And whoâs 2016 judgement in Boris Johnson has turned out to be correct).
If true this is not a good sign. I hope if she wins she will get better advice.
July 26, 2022
Both history graduates Simon Clarke then became a lawyer. Kwasi was at energy pushing the insanity of net zero and endlessly demonstrating his ignorance of physics, energy economics, energy engineering ⊠while muttering idiotic phrases like âWe will be the Saudi Arabia of Windâ.
Gove is a Socialist who wanted to kill private schools with VAT on fees and loss of charitable status (also at war with landlords and this damaging tenants too by damaging that market too). Thus rigging the education market to be even more of a state monopoly as you have then to pay four times over to go privately.
July 26, 2022
Michael Gove should be nowhere near government. He’s the on creating the shortage of rental properties and perpetuating the ban on fracking.
July 26, 2022
Indeed he is. Regulated and taxed the private rental market to death. Good luck with the short-sightedness of that policy with a housing shortage. Reported recently that about 40% of property for sale is landlords getting out of that market.
July 26, 2022
The British Geological Survey report on the safety of frack8ng was submitted 3 weeks ago, and has been disappeared so far. I guess it was too favourable.
July 26, 2022
With Gove’s track record of disloyalty, I’d not have him in Government either.
July 26, 2022
+1
July 26, 2022
Now that Gove isn’t in government can we please get rid of the vague term ‘levelling-up’ which is meaningless and un-measureable
July 26, 2022
Clarke appears to be able to turn his views and loyalties on a sixpence. From being a proponent and on a moral crusade of increasing taxes and NI contributions 2 weeks ago, he’s done an about turn and now sees it a moral crusade to want to reduce them. One of those I wouldn’t trust a millimetre.
Starmer suddenly appears straight and forthright in comparison with some of these snakes.
July 26, 2022
Had Boris not been knifed in the back by Gove he would surely have won leadership at the first attempt it might have been far better if he had and we had not had to suffer that appalling, disingenuous, LibDim one Theresa May.
I think Boris could still have won had Boris not given up. It cost me my bet on him too.
July 26, 2022
I think you could well be right.
July 26, 2022
Why would anybody want Boris to come back? He achieved NOTHING as PM, and all bhe did was betray the country – on the EU, on taxation, on net zero, on immigration, on everything. He was a do-nothing traitor and we are better off without him.
July 26, 2022
@ Richard1 – yes, let us hope speculation about Truss appointees is ill-informed and wrong.
She would, surely, be in a hugely powerful position to say to all the disappointed that their ambitions might be satisfied two years hence, after an election win, meanwhile, she must do whatever it takes to produce that win.
July 26, 2022
Gove is clearly very clever – perhaps too clever for his own good?
Perhaps the ‘Frogs’ have learned that Mr Gove has a little too much ‘Scorpion’ in his nature to wish to carry him across the river anymore?
July 26, 2022
Richard 1
It was once recognised that the secret to a successful career was to get promoted to the limit of your incompetence.
Today too many of ourâč politicians have already failed the test by becoming members of Parliament.
When the ship or structure is badly damaged it those with real experience that are best suited to rally the crew and implement sound damage control.
July 26, 2022
I wouldn’t want Michael Gove anywhere near Government. He is in favour of re-wilding and the other nonsense to reduce our food production. He is following the Globalist agenda that we can currently see playing out in many other western countries.
July 26, 2022
Indeed he is. Both candidates favour net zero. Good luck with that policy at the next election with our energy and fuel bills going through the roof. We can’t afford net zero. Only the fools in the bubble think we can for no net benefit. Exporting our manufacturing to China and elsewhere whilst importing coal, gas, wood pellets and manufactured goods back. A lot of villages are missing their idiots!
July 26, 2022
Christine
There must be nearly a thousand acres around me all planted with crops for animal feed or for the bio digester units to produce electricity from the methane they produce.
Farmers plant fields with the most profitable crops not what is going to feed the country.
July 26, 2022
1. Encouraging and facilitating employers to train and retain is a vital element of the workforce policy.
I remember one factory I worked in, where a furious manager screamed at his disgruntled, mainly Polish employees (pay was low, conditions poor, there was a confrontation) “there’s 10 Romanians waiting outside the gates for each of your ****ing jobs, so get back to work”.
2. Should we keep our commitment to let in a million or so Hong Kong residents? They won’t all be people we need. Times have changed.
3. The WEF/blob climate change policies combined with Russophobia have undermined food supplies to North Africa and other parts of the undeveloped world. A fresh wave of economic migrants will soon be washing up on EU shores. We need to get our immigration control in order fast.
July 26, 2022
The UK is our home and it is for us to decide whom we allow in and who is welcome to stay, according to how they behave.
The EUâs daft rules entitled anyone from many other neighbourâs homes to come and go in ours, and use our belongings just as they liked, whether we approved or not.
Our UK is our castle and the English Channel is our moat.
July 26, 2022
Agree Bloke
Iâve been saying this for years, we put mps into Westminster to carry out our demands not what they want, they cannot now blame the EU for immigration itâs our borders, I read something the other day that some of these illegals had been caught with guns this I also had been saying over time , who knows how many have disappeared with such weapons, we need a very strong leader who will walk the walk as well as talk the talk
July 26, 2022
Agree
July 26, 2022
The trouble with most politicians is that they are not scientists, and therefore they are not trained, or able, to think logically. Every issue should be resolved by going back to first principles. In the case of immigration controls, they have three functions:
1. Security – ie. keeping out undesirables. This is a FAIL for Boris the Traitor. Given that ANYBODY can come across the Channel and is allowed in, we have no security control.
2. Economic – ie. improvng the workforce. This is a FAIL for Boris the Traitor, as he has made it EASIER for foreign workers to be employed instead of UK workers for even average-grade jobs, without requiring the UK employer to look for employees in the UK first.
3. Social – ie. improving British society. This is a FAIL for Boris the Traitor, who has allowed our population to increase despite the fact that we are already GROSSLY OVERPOPULATED to the extent that the country is becoming unlivable, with a health service unable to cope with all the patients, insufficient housing for our people, roads permanently gridlocked, etc.
I want MPs to openly declare what they believe is the ideal population for an island the size of the UK. In my opinion the number is no more than 50 MILLION. We are now already 20 million MORE than that. Britain is full. We cannot take ANY more asylum seekers. NOT ONE. This is a question of numbers. Life is becoming increasingly intolerable with the number of people now in this country.
July 26, 2022
Youâre having a laugh if you believe our politicians would put the people of the UK firstâŠ.how could they show their faces at the UN and WEF, or attempt to rejoin the EU
July 26, 2022
Indeed.
Perhaps main things that voters want to see are control of our borders, substantial tax cuts from the hugely over taxed current position, cheap reliable energy, reform of healthcare so it can no longer be one of the worse healthcare systems for a developed nation as measured by outcomes (as it currently is) and scrapping the net zero expensive and unreliable energy lunacy. Topics completely avoided in the tedious BBC debate last night.
Sunak endlessly talking over/through Truss in an tedious Alistair Campbell style. Idiotic (and very biased against Truss) question from Faisal Islam BBC economics editor on how stretching out the debt repayment would give less room for tax cuts as long term interest rates are higher. Nonsense as inflation reduces longer term repayment in real terms and anyway clearly give you more cash in the short term for tax cuts as you start to repay more later. Also tax cuts today give you a larger economy and thus tax base tomorrow. Does Faisal understand any basic finance/economics?
July 26, 2022
Does Mr Islam have a background in Economics other than being an Economics Editor?
I know he has a post graduated degree in Journalism, but what was his Cambridge Degree in?
BBC again trying to catch out their least favoured candidate?
July 26, 2022
I understand he studied Economics at Cambridge so the answer to my first question is – yes.
July 26, 2022
When I searched nothing came up to say what subject he read at Trinity College.
July 26, 2022
From a tweet by the excellent Dr Clare Craig just now:-
âScottish ambulance calls for 15-44 yr olds with a cardiovascular problem.
>80% higher than in 2018-2019â
All very worrying and yet these ineffective, often dangerous vaccines are still now being pushed – even at the young and children. When the young especially/certainly never needed them.
July 26, 2022
It’s not just Scotland, LL. ‘NHS on its knees’ – Metro 25th July
July 26, 2022
It is pretty obvious who the BBC is supporting. Truss only had half the time Sunak spoke and the interruptions and not stopping repetitive monologues very irritating. Raworth completely out of her depth, no control and should never be allowed to do this job again. But then, that’s typical BBC. Bias and incompetence rules.
July 26, 2022
This idiotic question from Faisal Islam on costs of slower pay back of the government debt and interest was surely/clearly a planned anti-Truss agenda. Totally wrong headed too. Why is this man the BBC Economics Editor what did he study at Trinity I wonder?
July 26, 2022
I agree that Sophie Rayworth was next to useless as a moderator. But clearly the BBC wanted a woman to do the job, even if she couldn’t.
July 26, 2022
It certainly is typical of BBC, yet still they are allowed to get away with it.
It is they who dictate it seems what the public can and can’t hear, see and know.
When it comes to political issues, be it mainstream parties or smaller parties and individuals, then their tactics directly interferes with the democratic system surely because unfortunately, although it is changing, many people still take the BBC as the trusted font of all knowledge.
It is diabolical that they are allowed to get away with this.
July 26, 2022
The BBC have a history when it comes to promoting their preferred candidate for party leadership. Remember how they successfully sold the globalist stooge David Cameron to the gullible Tories against David Davis? Look what happened to David Davis’ preferred candidate for Tory leader: smeared as a tool of the WEF when both Truss and Sunak have attended WEF meetings also. Unfortunately people believe what they are told by the MSM of which the BBC is the major force in this country instead of finding out the facts for themselves. Do not expect the BBC to ever promote a patriotic Englishman for leadership of any political party.
July 26, 2022
Could it be that Faisal Islam realises that inflation at around 8-10% in the coming two years will have (as it has now been the case for several months) a direct impact on everything that people have to pay for, whether food, energy, transport, mortgage ⊠and that in the short term it might be more important to them than whether the state will be âreducing longer term repayment in real terms and possibly getting a tax cut (which for the half of the population below the median salary would be at most a few hundred pounds).
LL, you appear to forget that most people in the UK are not owners of properties in the London area, do not use a non-dom status for dealing with taxes, and might be looking at their finances on an annual basis (possibly even on a monthly basis) than on a five-, ten- or longer-term basis.
July 26, 2022
No his argument appeared to be that longer term borrowing had higher fixed interest rates so it did not give scope for the Truss tax cuts. But then with inflation paying it back later (even if at a higher interest rates) as you are paying back less in real terms so it can easily often be cheaper in reality. Also paying it back later clearly gives you more cash in the short term and the tax cuts will give you more growth and inward investment. This leads to a larger tax base in the medium to long term.
A win. win even more so if you cut out some of the vast government waste and OTT red tape.
July 26, 2022
Indeed so. There is approximately ÂŁ550bn of index linked gilts where the real burden of repayment will remain theoretically constant, and ÂŁ1.6 trillion of conventional debt where inflation is eroding away the real burden of repayment or refinancing at 10%, or ÂŁ160bn a year.
July 26, 2022
Thanks for the explanation, Lifelogic. I agree it might give people a bit more cash in the short term. I am not convinced that most people will actually see the impact of more growth and inward investment. A question remains: in which sector(s) would that growth and inward investment need happen for people to see a positive impact?
July 26, 2022
Control of our borders? Oh, like at Dover, I suppose?
As a friend wrote recently:
“Dear Fellow Brits.
Please try to understnad what losing your rights to Freedom of Movement actually means. I know its terribly complicated for some people, but it means you no longer have any automatic right to travel freely within the EU. It doesn’t matter how world beating you think you are, or what your purpose is, you no longer have the same rights and freedoms as other European citizens. You are now a “third country”.
This is not something that the French or the EU forced on you.
In fact, strictly speaking, its not even something anyone voted for.
But this is what Theresa May and Boris Johnson demanded.
It what you newspapers claimed was the “Will of the People”.
That you and (more importantly) your children) lose your rights and freedoms.
Don’t berate the French, who are actually choosing to apply only the bare minimum of checks that are required under Boris Johnson “oven ready deal”. Strictly speaking, they should be checking for proof of destination, that you have no intention of carrying out paid employment whilst in the EU, and that you have clear plans to return within the 90 day limit. And compare that to entering somewhere like the US. Or the behaviour of UK Border Force.
Just sit back, relax and enjoy those sunny uplands. And perhaps think back to those good old days, when the biggest thing anyone had to worry about was the curvature of bananas.”
July 26, 2022
Here is what British tourists for Germany are told by the German government:
‘You need to be able to justify the purpose and conditions of your intended stay, and you need to have sufficient means of subsistence, both for the duration of the intended stay and for your return to your country of origin or transit to a third country into which you are certain to be admitted, or you must be in a position to acquire such means lawfully.’ https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/02/visa/travel-after-brexit/2441830#content_1
Some differences here from what your friend is saying about France. I wonder why they should be different, since both France and Germany are Schengen area countries.
July 26, 2022
If he is British – why did he write it in the third person?
The big problem over the weekend was the unmanned French Border Posts – with the barriers closed.
Travellers coming from France to the UK had no delays.
July 26, 2022
They, and we by the way, have every right to deny admission to the country…..end of.
July 26, 2022
Coffee
Mansplaining is when you sit on the tube with your legs apart.
Please return to your Dept and find my Pension Credit App.
Applied ONLINE one month before the stated “you will hear by 19 May ”
Ta
July 26, 2022
I cannot help thinking something is wrong in incentives & pay levels in the UK. In my extended family we have four who have recently graduated or are about to. One in medicine will start on ÂŁ29k but has interest on six years of student debt of ÂŁ10k so net pay to live on perhaps less than ÂŁ10k about the cost of bedsit rent in london and nothing left for food or to live on. Better off on benefits in fact.
Another came top in the NatSci at UCL exams and starts at an Insurance company on ÂŁ50k, a third with a top engineering degree can expect to start on about ÂŁ35k shortly. The fourth reading law can expect to start on ÂŁ120k. Is it any surprise we are short of doctors? 50% of those we expensively train do not even continue to work for the NHS many give up medicine. What is wrong with the structures, incentives and systems that such high pay rates are available to lawyers & often rather poor ones too? All the non lawyers could easily do a one year law conversion.
I even know a consultant surgeon who did convert to law and now does medical litigation at twice the pay and half the hassle as he says. Is this really doing much good for the country?
July 26, 2022
Lifelogic, the Plan 2 (for students from Sept 2012) student loan repayment threshold is at ÂŁ27,295, for English students only. So they will pay 9% graduate tax on ÂŁ1705 = ÂŁ153.45 pa or ÂŁ2.95 per week. Doctors in continued training in hospitals should have low-cost accommodation near the hospital available to attract them to short-staffed hospitals. It was Blair and Brown that introduced it with the help of the Scottish MPs but only for England, disgusting, it really was. The doctor will get an unbeatable pension package, if they changed that pension to just a 10% contribution one with no defined benefit they could uplift the basic and claw most of it back in tax anyway.
The person on ÂŁ50,000, if they are English, will pay back ÂŁ2043.45 pa (9% of ÂŁ22,705). The loan is written off after 30 years unless they pay it off earlier because of high earnings.
July 26, 2022
Yes but the debt is typically increasing at circa ÂŁ10k PA and their net pay after tax, NI, commuting costs less this debt interest might easily be less than ÂŁ10k. So they are likely to do long hours on a hard job with poor backup and end up with less than they even need to live on. This after giving up 5 or 6 years of earnings to train.
July 26, 2022
Yes but they still have the debt going up and most doctors (men especially as fewer career breaks & less part time) will pay it or most of it off. It also restricts their mortgage borrowing on affordability grounds too. They work a year in a hard demanding job they have trained for for 5 or 6 years and end up poorer at the end of the years than when they started.
July 26, 2022
Student plan 1 loans were repaid from earnings from ÂŁ16000 pa. And are able to be paid off. Plan 2 will never be able to pay it off it is meant to be a 9% graduate tax for 30 years.
Also, Many working women take an absolute minimum time off work 6-12 weeks after each baby not all women are able to take big career breaks.
July 26, 2022
Unless youâre in the public sector paid full pay for months on end.
July 26, 2022
Iâve posted on this site a few times about mass migration creating a terrible risk that the UK will find it extremely painful to get into a conflict with a country where we have millions of people from those countries living here.
Events, dear boy events, may expose a such a strategic over reach. Biden handing over billions of dollars of military equipment is one such event.
Iâve recently been watching events unfolding in Pakistan where the Taliban are building up large amounts of weapons. This could spill over to an armed coup or civil war which would have a huge impact on millions of people in the UK.
July 26, 2022
Liz Truss maintained control in her speech during last nightâs Leadership Debate.
It was more intelligent for her to deliver calm, clear facts and statements of determination. In contrast the rapidly-gabbled claims against hers revealed only self-defensive opposition: too slippery for the grip we need on border control.
Candidates should not need to claim honesty. Being honest is enough.
Liz Truss appears to be the superior candidate, with loyalty to the Conservative Manifesto, and credible intent to protect our borders and values.
July 26, 2022
The woke world we now inhabit will not let our Government do anything about immigration. The issue is lost.
As a proud Englishman I despair at what is happening. Fortunately I’m in my twilight years …………
July 26, 2022
All allegedly being done by Johnsonâs regime indeed in his valedictory speech he claimed success. You say the permit system needs tweaking. As I understand it he relaxed the entry requirements âsecretlyâ so that numbers coming in were back to pre Brexit days.
Actually we need action not BS or hubristic blathering of the Johnson type.
I see you are careful to use the words âforeign criminalsâ. Once again a nice common sense post avoiding the difficult and party critical stuff. What about over 1 million people living here illegally and a seriously under funded Home Office and chaotic Border Force?
OmertĂ rules again.
Silence t
July 26, 2022
The question is Nig1 if they are here illegally are they actually costing us anything, they can’t access free medical can they? They can’t get housing benefits, or child tax credits or can they? How do they get work if every company is required by law to check worker status? Someone in their extended family must be keeping them.
July 26, 2022
Sir John, you mention the government’s ‘permits to come to live and work here based on skill levels and pay levels in areas of scarcity’. Last year nearly a quarter of a million of these permits were issued. Would it not be feasible for the next Prime Minister to consider better arrangements for training British people for these jobs infuture?
Or do the Tories want to go on forever with this short-term approach of raiding other countries for their trained people?
July 26, 2022
“every legal migrant becomes eligible for benefits, full free NHS care, help with housing and much else.”
Legal migrants are required to pay the NHS surchage on top of all the tax the rest of us have to pay.
It is also clearly stated on visas that the visa holder “has no recourse to state funds”, so no access to benefits, no access to help with housing etc.
The statement is completely untrue and it is shameful that an MP claims such utter drivel.
July 26, 2022
It is important to understand that the owners of the Tory Party not only wish to import unassimilable aliens
of the unskilled classes but also of the skilled classes so that the takeover of this country by unassimilable aliens can be complete.
July 26, 2022
What Peter, even all the legal asylum settlers that are women with children that aren’t working at all? Are you sure?
July 26, 2022
We used to have something called ââthe rule of lawâââŠif you have a no travel visa or have an incorrect travel visa you are returned to whence to came forthwith
July 26, 2022
My wife’s visa did say that Peter – all the while that we claimed child benefit for her son who we brought over at the same time. No one batted an eyelid and NHS treatment was meted out on demand (this was in the days when it was available on demand).
July 26, 2022
And we claimed in her name so she got the state pension benefits of child benefit in later life.
All the time that I was having it taken off me again in tax by George Osborne but no one was to know that.
July 26, 2022
Of great importance will be who Liz Truss appoints as Home Secretary.
Priti Patel is a strong politician but she has not been able to get to grips with and change the working of the Home Office. We Also need to change our relationship with or leave the RCHR.
Border Force is a failing institution and is not fit for purpose.
July 26, 2022
Then take away the benefits package from all migrants (legal or otherwise). We are led to believe that they are all coming here to work and ‘contribute to our economy’. They don’t come him as an act of altruism; they come here to better their own finances.
July 26, 2022
Sir JR
Brexit would solve problem, instead we still have very high immigration from outside the EU.
Not enough workers for our agriculture and factories.
I think you are understating the problem
July 26, 2022
One million legal visas issued in one year, and 30,000 illegal chancers ferried in and being accommodated, provided with food, healthcare, dentistry, legal aid and new mobile phones (because they threw theirs away) isn’t exercising control. It’s abrogating it.
The CON Party will do nothing about legal immigration, because your Globalist Masters and Big Business won’t allow it.
The only way we can regain control of our borders from the traffickers and their illegal passengers is to leave the ECHR, scrap the Human Rights Act and return them all to France, their home country or Rwanda. And it’ll never happen. Neither of the candidates for PM want to and neither have the cojones.
I wish you’d stop gas-lighting us and admit you’re powerless and too cowardly to take back control.
July 26, 2022
Sunak certainly came out with all guns blazing last evening but he failed to rattle Liz Truss, whose strategy was to allow him to rant and rave and come out with a damaging response when he paused for breath.
Sophie Rayworth should have shut him up but failed to act as a proper moderator. Sunakl even refused to let the BBC’s two experts get a word in ! There was far too much Me Me Me from him. I doubt whether it will have improved his chances of winning and he has very little time left to change party member’s minds.
As for the policy issues, only the economy was of any significance. With new predictions of even higher energy bills from October and again in January, it is even more important that the tax take is not increased. The opposite is true. More support will have to be provided but I’m not sure how that can be provided other than through a short term redistribution via taxation when everyone will be hit.
July 26, 2022
Suzanne Moore in the DT. Boris Johnson, a shambolic petty (thereâs worse in the article) narcissist who couldnât say no to anyone with examples of the failures he has left.
Truss unashamedly last night pitching for the votes of his supporters saying he shouldnât have been ousted. Sums up the standards and outputs she is going to be happy with, then.
My life would be so much better if I didnât have to see or hear the human trumpet that is Nadine Dorris ever again.
July 26, 2022
You cannot mean by “…give full support to the Home Secretary…” to support Mrs. Patel, surely? She is ideally suited to her job, a not-fit-for-purpose Minister in charge of a not-fit-for-purpose department. There can be no belief left in her ability to stop (rather than just timidly “stem)” the dinghy invasion. The new Prime Minister needs to appoint someone who can cope with the task in hand or chalk up an early and obvious defeat.
July 26, 2022
Still you talk of people traffickers peddling their evil trade, displacing blame from a weak government that cares nothing for its legal citizensâ safety. The traffickers are simply providing a service at an economic price. They can say exactly that to each of their potential customers. âLook despite what it says, the UK government wants you there, thatâs why itâs a safe route and their navy and lifeboats will even escort you across and give you high quality hotel accommodation within their communities with total freedom to roam. They donât even care if you could be a terrorist, they wonât bother restricting what you do in any way. Weâre getting ever increasing demand for our services now as more and more migrants see how easy it is, so youâd better go today before we have to raise our pricesâ.
July 26, 2022
+1 Boris may as well have have issued gold edged invitations to illegals and traffickers. I doubt he could have made the channel journey more tempting and worthwhile!
July 26, 2022
You don’t mention that no questions were asked on this topic last night. Yet it is one of the top issues amongst the electorate. A Brexit freedom which has remained in cuffs.
July 26, 2022
Why not simply remove the pull benefits that no one that arrives in this country is entitled to any State aid, NHS treatment, or benefits until they have paid into the system for 5 years, or have paid a lump sum (say ÂŁ50,000) in advance, only exception, if PARENTS already here, have a fully paid up record.
This this could apply to the whole population. then perhaps some of those who come here would not be so keen on losing their paperwork if they have claimed to have family here.
Yes of course we need to return illegals, no paperwork, then have a default country like Afghanistan and let them prove they have not come from there.
July 26, 2022
See my correction to the original article posted above.
No legal migrant coming here is entitled to any state aid or benefits for 5 years, and NHS treatment can only accessed once each person has paid the NHS surcharge.
July 26, 2022
Not true Peter as I write above as well
July 27, 2022
It is certainly true in my recent experience.
July 26, 2022
They would still come, as they would still get free NHS (the whole world seems to get free NHS unlike some qualifying UK citizens) and possibly benefits too, and very little chance of them being deported! They should never be allowed to set foot on UK soil, as it is this that triggers all the cost and processes of checking and deporting and the legal aid and everything they can squeeze out of us.
July 26, 2022
Mass migration is a global problem, and there needs to be some brutally frank, open and inter-governmental talks at the very top of every nation involved to ascertain and publicise the reasons for it.
Why are so many South Americans attempt to get into the USA? Could it have something to do with utterly incompetent and corrupt dictatorships, starving, ill-educated inhabitants and the malign influence of communism as practiced (allegedly) by Moscow and Beijing?
Ditto the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the whole of Africa from Algiers to Cape Town.
If I were very naive, I’d suggest this should be topic number one at the United Nations – but I’m not.
July 26, 2022
The mass migration of the third world to the first world has been covered by the UN already. It’s called the Global Compact for Migration which calls for “safe, orderly and regular migration” as part of the UN Agenda 2030 for “sustainable develop” see section 10.7. Presumably it will next be examined when the first world has become the third world.
July 26, 2022
”Mass migration is a global problem”…..not so for the French, they just ignore them and put them on boats to sunny England, the land of milk & honey
July 26, 2022
According to the BBC last night, questions about immigration have to wait, in order to make time for more weightier matters like the PM candidate’s dress sense and their marks out of 10 for Boris.
July 26, 2022
Johnson’s hair, May’s shoes, Sunak’s suits, Truss’ earrings.
Trivia is alive and well.
July 26, 2022
The need for legal immigration is another issue clouded by our overly generous benefits system where it is possible to have a comfortable lifestyle working very little or not at all. Everyone who is capable of work (including disabled candidates with suitable adjustments) should be working before we invite any further unskilled incomers to join our workforce.
Illegal immigration has too many pull factors, our language being a big one but hand wringing worthies demanding that they be treated, not as the criminals they are but as people deserving of our sympathy even though they can afford the extortionate fees involved in getting here. In reality everyone who arrives here is not only a criminal but someone with access to more funds that one would expect from a persecuted individual.
Some of the biggest critics of our current approach to all kinds of immigration are legal immigrants whose advantages are being eroded by the flood.
July 26, 2022
They are close to achieving their objective of getting through another year without doing anything to deter the cross-Channel invasion. The only people sent to Rwanda have been Prince Charles and Boris Johnson. We are told that if we left the ECHR we would be a pariah state, but the same cannot be said of repudiating the UN Global Compact on Migration, which many other major nations never signed in the first place. No meaningful measure is too small not to take. There is a rumour that the discarded dinghies are being stockpiled so they can be sold for return to Calais and re-use, this could be immediately dispelled by destroying them and sending the pieces for recycling.
July 26, 2022
OT, Ms Truss appears to want to reform some areas of taxation and I welcome that. Business as usual would not appropriate.
Perhaps, given time as PM, she might attempt some sharing of tax allowances to help people care for pre-school children and/or disabled/infirm adults at Home.
Also something bold like substantially increasing the minimum wage and reducing in work benefits so that the taxpayer no longer subsidises an employers wage bill
July 26, 2022
The porous borders are a joke highlighted by the French govt’s passive resistance to the plight of families going on holidays and EU truck drivers outdoing Putin with their contempt for us (after Macron has nodded and winked to up the ante).
This and other important topics were completely ignored by our so called national broadcaster in the absolutely appalling non-debate last night. Dire – bear-baiting enjoying making the conservatives fit their characture and bias with a useless red donned “invigilator”. Shallow, allowing the minority guy free airtime to display his executive tap-dancer and puppet skills. Seriously the BBC is outragous and knows it will be defunded in the last chance saloon, like Sunak.
Liz Truss was talked over by a petulant adolescent poser and expected balance which never came so realised it was all a big joke / charade. The only things missing were a Red Nose to hide pinocchio RS playing the Joker spining ad nuaseam. Fast forward and he was still at it shouting “all about me”, not the country and worse taking credit for other’s hard work and thus avoiding scrutiny of his own failings and wasting 1/2 Trillion putting us in debt and then having to put up taxes to record levels when the dire reverse is needed! Outrageous!
July 26, 2022
Obtaining citizenship also entails getting a vote. When the native population is outvoted by the immigrants, democracy is a dead duck – see Fiji.
It is unbelievable, watching 2 âconservativesâ contesting the leadership, that it does not occur to either that there must be massive reduction in the overweening state sector to not only pay for the huge tax cuts that are required but to release people from unproductive jobs into the growing economy.
July 26, 2022
migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk 04/05/2022 âCitizenship and naturalisation for migrants in the UKâ
July 26, 2022
Its quite clear that if you wish to control your borders you must first leave the Council of Europe ECHRâŠ.otherwise youâre just playing to the crowd
July 26, 2022
Immigration is a problem for rich countries, not poor countries (unless they are geographically next to a country in strife). When I visited Chile they had many immigrants from Peru and Bolivia (poorer countries) but not from Argentina (as wealthy as Chile). Yet rich countries cannot share their wealth with the whole (or much of) the world.
Immigration causes social even more than economic tensions as immigrants come from countries where the lifestyle is very different to ours and in some cases they are not willing to adapt to and sometimes even despise British beliefs (e.g. in many cases concerning the status and rights-or their lack of rights- of women).
So immigration needs to be heavily restricted. It is now out of control and (due largely to leftwing lawyers and judges who think, unelected though they are, they have the right to determine such things) cannot be brought back under control except by starting again with an entirely new system. So an immigration moratorium for at least 5 years is now needed.
July 26, 2022
Why in the democratic UK do we allow an outgoing PM to produce a ‘resignation honours list’ …..this tradition should be revoked
July 26, 2022
Indeed it results in power staying with the same people/parties and group thinks and they get more party funds which is surely illegal. Why have Farage and Ann Widecombe never been elevated? Instead the Lords is stuffed with lefty, remainers and pushers of net zero. All sorts of dire, daft and deluded people, ex-civil servants and sometimes just large party donors. Blair, Brown, Cameron & May’s lists were generally dire.
July 26, 2022
Why is it only with this PM that a fuss is being made?
July 26, 2022
I’ve always opposed this type of tradition….its medieval
July 26, 2022
Please add to your memos to the new PM the big âelephant in the roomâ, the millions of working age people whoâve not gone back to work after the pandemic and furlough scheme. Some have retired. Some may now be unemployable. A great many I suspect have chosen a life on top-up benefits, causing the massive workforce shortages, contributing the bare minimum of productive hours to qualify for UC but helping neither themselves nor the countryâs productivity problem.
July 26, 2022
Please add to your memos to the new PM the big âelephant in the roomâ, the millions of working age people whoâve not gone back to work after the pandemic and furlough scheme. Some have retired. Some may now be unemployable. A great many I suspect have chosen a life on top-up benefits, contributing the bare minimum of productive hours to qualify for UC but helping neither themselves nor the countryâs productivity problem.
July 26, 2022
There is a huge imbalance between controlled legal immigration and the infrastructure needed to house and service it. We must either reduce immigration or expand the infrastructure, probably both.
Illegal immigration is an entirely different affair; all that is required are adequate and secure detention facilities for containment and processing and the repeal of the Human Rights Act to enable removal their inmates from our Country.
The Government must act with firmness. The people entering our Country via these small boats are committing an offence and so they should be arrested and detained in the aforementioned secure detention facility. They should have their images, DNA and finger prints recorded and maintained on file.
Where the nationality of the illegal immigrant cannot be established they should be removed to Rwanda (or other contracted State) as soon as possible.
Where the nationality can be established they should be removed to that country with equal haste. If that country refuses to accept the return of their citizen they should be sanctioned.
If new laws or amendments to existing laws are required, so be it.
The Government must get on with it!
July 26, 2022
This is becoming very tiresome. Your party has had decades to sort out immigration and has only made things worse. I for one donât believe a word any of you say. You are wedded to cheap workers and terrified of being labelled racist. The British people are treated like second-class citizens in their own country pushed to the back of the housing and NHS waiting lists to accommodate freeloaders.
July 26, 2022
Another defining characteristic of an independent country would be that it has its own policy on how goods can be moved around within its territory. So, yes, it is conceivable that for whatever reasons it might decide to restrict the movement of a certain class of goods from one part of its territory to another, but that would be its sovereign decision. On the other hand both of the people who aspire to be Tory leader and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are prepared to allow a foreign power to determine what goods can be moved between those two parts of the kingdom. There may be a difference between them, insofar as one would allow the foreign power to exert its control over all the goods that it chose while the other would insist that certain goods must be exempt from that foreign control, but that is only a difference of degree.
And in view of the latest piece of impudence from that foreign power:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/07/25/memo-to-an-incoming-pm-growth-is-what-we-need/#comment-1331245
I would amend my previous comment:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/07/23/memo-to-an-incoming-pm-help-cabinet-government-work-better/#comment-1330875
by replacing “no EU checks at all on any goods coming in from the rest of the UK” with “no EU checks at all on any goods moving in either direction between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK”.
And I would also add “In for a penny in for a pound”, if we are going to invite some level of global opprobrium by brazenly breaching an international treaty then we might as well make a proper job of it.
July 26, 2022
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-animals-veterinary-medicine-northern-ireland-b2131464.html
“Brexit set to cause shortage of animal medicines in Northern Ireland”
“Grace period will stop at end of 2022 with talks on a solution stalled”
Well, of course it is not Brexit itself which is set to cause the shortage, as admitted in the next sentence:
“Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal is set to create a shortage of veterinary medicines for sick animals in Northern Ireland, a parliamentary committee has warned.”
Because:
“Over half of veterinary medicines used in the territory are expected to be become unavailable when the Northern Ireland protocol agreed by the UK and EU comes into full force at the end of the year.”
Who was it demanding full implementation recently? Oh, yes, somebody calling himself “Gorman”:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/07/22/my-contribution-in-the-northern-ireland-protocol-committee-day-2-debate/#comment-1330673
The rest of the Independent article is as linked, the European Scrutiny Committee report starts on page 3 here:
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/23249/documents/169655/default/
As I have said before, I would prefer temporary international disgrace to this perpetual national humiliation.
July 26, 2022
Potentially some good news for Liz Truss, I think:
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2022/07/26/most-people-favour-scrapping-brexit-checks-on-ni-bound-goods/
“Most people favour scrapping âBrexit checksâ on NI-bound goods”
“Most nationalists and unionists want end to inspections on products destined only for North, survey shows”
“A majority of nationalists and unionists believe there should be no checks on imported goods destined only for Northern Ireland from Britain and elsewhere, a survey has found.”
That is as far as I can read without a subscription.
I would still stop all EU checks on imports and switch the focus to goods being exported across the border.
July 26, 2022
Denis
You obviously have little understanding of international treaties and international law, but you still insist on taking actions in to your own hands.
July 26, 2022
Do stop making stupid remarks bill
Denis has written 3 well argued posts with links to several quotes from good sources and yet you dismiss it all with a weak wave of your hand.
No proper reply.
No explanation why you think you are right.
As you often say…you could do much better.
July 27, 2022
If only I could take actions into my own hands.
July 27, 2022
Perhaps you could explain the logic of keeping in its entirety an international treaty which does not work, so that some parts have to be suspended sine die in order for it to work?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-62311532
“NI Protocol: Grace periods should be permanent, says Lords committee”
Remember, the EU is adamantly refusing to renegotiate a single word of that treaty:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/07/22/my-contribution-in-the-northern-ireland-protocol-committee-day-2-debate/#comment-1330661
July 26, 2022
Legal immigration is about a million, illegal immigration is about 100,000. Clearly, under Boris, the so-called Conservative government had lost the plot. If we do not control our borders, what was the point of Brexit? If India insists we let in vast numbers of Indians as the price of a trade deal, tell them to forget about it. Why can’t any government seem to understand this basic fact?
July 26, 2022
You state illegal immigration is about 100,000, but thats what is known to be taking place. What about those who arrive and disappear?
July 26, 2022
Dear Sir John , There is a difference between control of borders and mass immigration. The illegal Channel crossings provide a daily reminder of the Government’s impotence and Whitehall’s “no-can-do” attitude. But the numbers are modest compared to legal immigration. That continues apace thanks to a powerful and by no means unique alliance between the Far Left, who seek the breakdown of traditional culture and a bourgeoisie always on the hunt for cheap labour.
For the rest of us, continuing mass immigration can only be justified if one believes in the “trickle-up” effect, that more labour is needed to boost overall productivity per head. This may have been the case just after World War 2, when West Indians of the Windrush generation were recruited to make good war deaths. For at least the past 40 years it has held back basic wages and increased inequality.
Welcoming those who genuinely face deadly persecution in their own countries provides all the new blood that can invigorate any society.
,
July 26, 2022
The Attlee government did not orchestrate the importation of West Indians after WWII although a couple of Ministers in that government were aware of the it and encouraged it. The Windrush was also used for transporting Pakistanis into this country.
July 26, 2022
Interesting, Forthurst. I think London Transport was lead recruiter then. Today, I suspect ministers are advised to avoid effective immigration curbs because the NHS is by some distance the biggest recruiter. Says a lot about the NHS that it saves money by getting taxpayers in poorer countries to train its staff. Do we pay compensation? Possibly not.
July 26, 2022
There is no need to hand out citizenship in the cavalier fashion it has been handed out in.
Other countries do not do it, and no one bats an eye lid.
Plenty of other countries allow people to go and work and study there, but citizenship is not on offer as a standard after x amount of years.
It seems the Conservatives want to talk about the illegals now, to divert attention from the mass immigration they are allowing legally under their rules.
The student route has been opened up again (see Migration Watch)
Still not a word on the UN Migration Pact, which was kept very quiet (and still is). Even so, a huge petition was sent in from the public asking not to implement it. This was ignored. Conservatives cannot be trusted at all on the issue of immigration, legal or illegal.
They care not one jot for anything remotely worth fighting for, history, heritage, culture and everything seems to boil down to ÂŁÂŁÂŁ. More people, more money and a halo to polish on the world stage as they boast of taking in more in need than others. Short sighted beyond belief.
Now as with so many other things chickens are coming home to roost.
We can’t feed ourselves, the pressure on services is immense, the pressure on our natural resources is immense, they were warned but wouldn’t listen.
July 26, 2022
Discussion and debate on this absolutely vital issue is pointless as no-one in government or administration cares or has enough courage to do anything strong to protect our borders.
They care nothing about the indiginous population – in fact they don’t believe in such a concept, except for the elite group to which they themselves belong.
The majority is ignored and insulted. They demand obediance from us they don’t demand from illegal arrivals who are permanently helped across and financed when they get here.
Firm action is needed, tbe matter has been debated long enough, and that isn’t enough.
July 26, 2022
Another borders issue.
National Grid paid ÂŁ9,724 per megawatt hour, more than 5,000% than the typical price, to Belgium on Wednesday to prevent south-east London losing power, reports the BBC.
Actually the bill will be passed to UK consumers, and was incurred so we could help keep the lights on in France, which we kept supplied at the maximum the interconnectors are capable of. Reducing exports to France would have served just as well to increase supply to SE London.
July 26, 2022
Mark. I can hardly believe what I am reading. When are we going to have a government with some balls to stand up for us?
July 26, 2022
Sir John, in response to your Tweet today about water supplies, this is another example of the government – ie. ministers and MPs – not wanting to do their job of actually, err, you know … GOVERNING. Why has responsibility being shuffled off to an independent body? And indeed, not just one, but TWO (Ofwat and the Drinking Water Inspectorate)! Why not just have a section WITHIN DEFRA that does this job? It would by cheaper, more efficient, more streamlined and make enforcement simpler and quicker.
And the government should just make rules and enforce them, instead of whingeing. For instance, to stop all the water leaks from pipes. They should just ORDER the water companies to eliminate leaks or be fined multi-BILLION pound fines. You know, actually RUN THE COUNTRY as we, the electorate, elect and expect you to do.
July 26, 2022
Yes Sir John.
I seem to remember Priti Patel being attacked by her own Department.
Isn’t it the case though, that we need to get out of the E.C.H.R. to stop the illegal immigrant invasion?
That is probably outside the ‘tearing up E.U. legislation’ remit.
It probably comes under the ‘Bill of Rights’ remit.
Hopefully, IT WILL BE DONE. And Fast.
July 26, 2022
There’s a joke doing the rounds or meant yo be a joke but very true. A picture of the queue at Dover and one of a dinghy full of men arriving on our shores. The caption says it’s now harder to leave the UK with a passport than it is to enter without any passport or papers. Damn right it is and it’s a total disgrace.
July 26, 2022
Shame on this conservative government
July 26, 2022
and who is causing this state of affairs – on both counts?
July 26, 2022
It’s a crazy situation yet it is easier for an illegal immigrant to get here than a bona fide refugee. Surely this absurd malpractice must be overcome as soon as the new PM is installed? I fear it is the civil service that is preventing a resolution but why?
This country can neither afford to feed nor house the world nor can it provide medical treatment and benefits to all who arrive here without certifying documentation.
Official figures suggest some ÂŁ5 Million is spent each and every day on housing those without any I/D in 3 Star hotels. This is an outrage for there are hundreds, if not thousands, of British citizens who are homeless but are denied such official help.
Why are these illegals treated better than our own citizens?
July 26, 2022
You only have to show the will; by towing one boatload back to France the same day, witnessed by the media and broadcasted around the worldâŠthe illegal crossings would soon stop
July 26, 2022
Its the lefty morons starting the lie that economic illegal migrants are in fact mostly homeless widows with numbers of babies to feed with no relatives left from the fighting.
Always the easiest argument designed to shame and reduce us to tears.
Its all such nonsense.
July 26, 2022
I see the BEIS Select Committee in their report today is unimpressed with OFGEM:
The lack of ongoing requirements for suppliers operating in the market allowed thinly capitalised companies to rely on customersâ money to fuel business growth and operate with either no hedging or inadequate hedging against future energy prices. These companies took substantial risks to undercut responsible suppliers. The new rules put in place in early 2021 had no meaningful impact on suppliersâ practices. Ofgem has proved incompetent as the regulatory authority of this complex market, thereby costing taxpayers billions of pounds. The scale of failure and the cost exposure to taxpayers is only comparable to the financial crash of 2008.
Surely Mr. Brearley should resign? Perhaps Kwarteng too? This is a hot issue for the new PM and energy minister. These problems have been evident for a very long while. I have been trying to interest the FCA in the issues of financial adequacy and protection of monies, but they have so far adopted a silo mentality.
July 26, 2022
Did they mention âfrackingâ at all or is that cheap abundant shale gas, that could fuel the UK for 200 years, still a taboo subject
July 27, 2022
Just require the companies to fund an “insurance” of customer deposits and fund to enable orderly close down and transfer plans of customers to another supplier.
July 26, 2022
The activist judiciary make the only solution quite obvious – resile from the ECHR, both the treaty and its court: rewrite the HRA, make it justiciable at the UK High and Supreme Courts only.
July 26, 2022
Agree
July 27, 2022
It is wrong to assume that all economic migrants and asylum seekers are willing to accept the language, culture and laws of the host nation. And in the case of the illegal dingy arrivals we donât even know if they are criminals or even military personnel from a hostile foreign state.
If our communist fifth column pro UN/EU ruling elites continue to bring to the UK as many tribes as possible, all with their own languages, cultures and even laws social collapse will be inevitable.
July 28, 2022
“Today we have introduced a policy of allocating permits to come to live and work here based on skill levels and pay levels in areas of scarcity. These may need tweaking to get the full effects from encouraging more local employees with higher productivity and pay levels.”
That’s about as optimistic an assessment as I’ve heard in a while.
A “points based system” that gives enough points for spelling your name “may need tweaking”???
The level of immigration under a supposedly Tory govt is staggering. Why can’t they have work visas rather than a right to live? Or work remotely in their own country in office-based work? Or simply not work here at all?
This needs more than a “tweak”.