[insignificant]

Hypothetically, if everyone who had emigrated to the UK within the last 15 years had to leave and take their families with them, how would you feel? Do you think the country would have a more efficient workforce, or would it leave a big gap? How do you think it would affect the country socially?

EDIT1: For people ready to skew this into a racist thought, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for half my family coming over from Ireland so I am in no way racist, just want to here peoples different thoughts on how it would affect the country.

[Psyk]

If they all suddenly left it would be chaos. We'd have severely understaffed hospitals for one thing.

[Maryb_101]

Immigrants have all contributed into helping to revolutionise and make britain what it is today. They have bought a bit of their skills and culture and helped britian economically, socially etc.

[Bonged.]

(Original post by Maryb_101)
Immigrants have all contributed into helping to revolutionise and make britain what it is today. They have bought a bit of their skills and culture and helped britian economically, socially etc.

Explain how.

[Nanometre]

I would lose many friends and cousins I have no problem with immigrants. I don't worry about 'our' culture being removed; I don't think that's going to happen. Perhaps it's because much of my family immigrated here that I have no problem with people coming to 'our' country.

Recent immigrants seem more eager to do jobs that 'the natives' seem to proud to do. Some (I am certainly not saying all) people in this country just don't have the work ethic that many immigrants do. Many immigrants will do the monotonous hard work that Brits find beneath them.

Therefore I think that if all the recent immigrants were to leave we would be left with a gap in the work force, where vital low skilled jobs would not be easily filled.

[Snagprophet]

There was a show called The Day the Immigrants Left. Basically they got the laziest chavs they could find and get them to pick crops from a field, work on a food packing assembly line and to wait in a curry house. Too lazy to pick the crops, too proud to pack food into boxing, too lazy to learn the menu. It's ridiculous and cannot possibly be an accurate representation of the English people. I can understand perhaps getting tired from working in a field but I simply don't believe we are too lazy to work at a fecking restaurant. That's ridiculous. I don't see why it's acceptable to label all us English as lazy. Is it some sort of inferiority complex indoctrination?

[Wawasan]

Infrastructure and opportunities that have been brought in from abroad over the years have been vast. Its well and good to think of the basic theory of "they are taking our jobs" however, that's completely the wrong way to look at it. Things such as foreign investment and healthcare reforms, research etc have all spurned out over foreign expertise.

[lonelyknight]

Well, I would imagine there'd be a lot of chaos to begin with. Then, after a while, we'd realise just how better everything is! There would surely be many many jobs free, which people could take. Most benefits therefore could be cancelled, as it would be either you take this job, or you starve. Would people rather starve to death or scrub a toilet? You know what I mean.

So yes. Chaos first, then a "hold on!" moment, then everyone unemployed can pick up the jobs and Britain's working again

All a hypothetical situation of course.

[Electronica]

If Britain were to do that, I'd leave with the immigrants.

[Herr]

An often purported myth is the day immigrants left would be the day all Brits will have a job............ wrong.

The day there are no longer immigrants especially those on the cheap would be the day that most businesses would further invest in automation...... it's been possible to since the early 1980s to have complete robotic assembly of automobiles, Fiat has been the pioneer in this one :-



Of course robotic assembly has come a long way since then and in this factory there were some human intervention here and there, but today you could essentially robotic assemble just about anything with minimal staff.

Even in agriculture and the picking of soft fruit you could automate that too, just that the machinery to do so is hugely expensive and for the most part isn't feasible in a country like UK due to the relative smallness of farms.... you need to have operations similar to that in USA for it to be viable in the short term.... though even in USA they don't do it because there are loads of Mexicans who'd pick it for next to nothing.

[SEHughes]

(Original post by insignificant)
Hypothetically, if everyone who had emigrated to the UK within the last 15 years had to leave and take their families with them, how would you feel? Do you think the country would have a more efficient workforce, or would it leave a big gap? How do you think it would affect the country socially?

Subtext - I think the country's gone to the dogs since New Labour started letting all those BROWN PEOPLE in! Don't you agree?!

[DanLorenzo]

Not this thread again... It's clearly going to turn into a liberal vs. racist debate.

[insignificant]

(Original post by SEHughes)
Subtext - I think the country's gone to the dogs since New Labour started letting all those BROWN PEOPLE in! Don't you agree?!

See my edited OP. Stop trying to draw blood from a stone.

[Cyanohydrin]

I dunno, I mean a lot of Britain doesn't have many immigrants, would it make a huge difference if they left Cornwall? Or Scotland? Or Cumbria? Probably not. London and so on, then yeah obviously.

[Laozi]

(Original post by DanLorenzo)
Not this thread again... It's clearly going to turn into a liberal vs. racist debate.

How is caring about your country and people racist, lemming?

[Skip_Snip]

While immigration has helped the country in several, unspecified ways, I don't see how letting people in and just sit on benefits for generations helps us while we're in a recession ...

[TheHansa]

The fogeys would starve and ill would die.

[Aeonstorm]

Can someone give me a quick overview of the attitude towards or controversy surrounding immigrants in Britain? I come from Australia, which fully embraces multiculturalism, so I can't really relate. For example, we're pretty shocked by the idea that Germany has just given up on multiculturalism and demands that all immigrants adopt German values.

Also, I'm not sure about Britain, but in Australia we have a focus on attracting skilled migrants - therefore they contribute to the economy, spend money and help the economy grow. It is a fallacy that more immigrants means less jobs for the native people of a country, just as it is a fallacy that baby boomers working til they're older necessarily prevents the young from getting jobs, just as it was a fallacy when women entered the workforce, that they would take the jobs of men. (lump of labour fallacy i believe it is called)

[Xsmurfy786x]

Define immigrants; most families and individuals who migrated to the UK a couple of generations ago. Now their kids have had kids and are technically British, what would you do with that lot then

The country would fall into chaos that's for sure. Immigrants have bought skill and culture with then, not to eliminate the British culture in any sort of way, I see it more of an enhancement, see all the different variety of foods we have in the UK, from lasagnes to burritos and currys.

Not only that, someone above said that the healthcare system would go down the drains as these days approx 50% of the NHS workforce are immigrants, whether that be an Indian Doctor or a Chinese chiropracticioner ... Most British professionals have dwelled into the private market

[Xsmurfy786x]

(Original post by Skip_Snip)
While immigration has helped the country in several, unspecified ways, I don't see how letting people in and just sit on benefits for generations helps us while we're in a recession ...

Tbf your underestimating immigrants here, majority of them that I know anyway are all working and in jobs and non of them are on benefits.
And you do seem to forget there are many British people who are on benefits, a considerable more British nationals on benefits than immigrants I'm sure I read somewhere.