UKIP proven right on Romanian & Bulgarian immigration

UKIP said before borders opened that immigration from these two countries would be big & a drain on public resources and they have been proven right.

The latest figures shows that after 1 year of border being opened:
-there are 252,000 Romanians & Bulgarians in the UK (up 50,000 in 1 year)
-20% don't work & are reliant on British taxpayers (up 15 fold!)
-107,000 applied for national insurance numbers in 1 year

New study by migration watch (who correctly predicted the 50,000 figure) also confirms immigrants do not contribute to the UK economy and that 90% of immigrants are low skilled

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11316680/Number-of-Romanians-and-Bulgarians-not-in-work-increases-15-fold-in-eight-years.html

And the other parties want Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey and Albania to have free access to the UK next

Reply 1

zippity.doodah

3

20% don't work? :lol:

jesus christ
not only is our welfare system pathetic, but our immigration system, along with the borderlessness of the EU where you've got very poor ex-communist countries involved? it just makes it so much worse. why didn't they listen? why couldn't they have simply protected our borders both in practice and in principle?

Reply 2

Rakas21

21

Ukip were certainly not right, they made outlandish claims about Bulgarian and Romanian immigration.

Migration Watch seem to have been on the money with their 50,000 a year number, personally I was actually expecting more though.

I'll have to read the report because I'm very skeptical of the 90% unskilled claim unless that's just from Romania and Bulgaria.

None of this really changes my view though. Veto the entry of new member states to the EU until they are wealthy and support the governments welfare plans for immigrants.

If I vote to leave the EU, it still won't be due to immigration.

Reply 3

6Jesus6Christ6

As long as there is a surplus (over-supply) of labour, businesses can afford to keep wages low.

Reply 4

DaveSmith99

14

Any source that's not propaganda watch?

Reply 5

Viridiana

12

I think you Brits should make living in your country and doing nothing more difficult... You can't just give money to anyone who comes and asks for it and I'm saying it as a person who lives in a poor EU country and wants to come to Britain. But I just want to start a life, work my way towards my career goals and integrate. Like if one day I ask the government to just give me money because I'm here and I want it, just throw me into the ocean.

Reply 6

TurboCretin

20

The proportion of unemployed Romanians is lower than that of Britons. The issue is if/when they bring dependents over after having established themselves.

Reply 7

Ace123

OP

2

Original post by TurboCretin

The proportion of unemployed Romanians is lower than that of Britons. The issue is if/when they bring dependents over after having established themselves.

that is wrong 20% of Romanians and Bulgarians are unemployed if the UK had the same rate of 20% or higher then with a working age population of around 40-45 million at least unemployment would be over 8 million! plus all the Brits who have lost work because of immigration

Reply 8

VannR

21

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage/11278440/Nigel-Farage-blames-immigration-after-missing-Ukip-reception.html

UKIP has not been proven right. What has been 'proven' is that immigration of unskilled people who refuse to work is bad for the country. This has claim has been made by the Conservatives.

Reply 9

Captain Haddock

18

Thread title is complete nonsense. The 50,000 a year figure has remained steady for the past few years, so opening our borders has so far had no significant effect on the numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians coming into the UK. Farage has been proven wrong. The surge he talked about has not happened.

Reply 10

TurboCretin

20

Original post by Ace123

that is wrong 20% of Romanians and Bulgarians are unemployed if the UK had the same rate of 20% or higher then with a working age population of around 40-45 million at least unemployment would be over 8 million! plus all the Brits who have lost work because of immigration

According to the article you linked us to, "the employment rate for Romanians and Bulgarians remains higher than the national average of 72 per cent".

Reply 11

Torum

Original post by Ace123

UKIP said before borders opened that immigration from these two countries would be big & a drain on public resources and they have been proven right.

The latest figures shows that after 1 year of border being opened:
-there are 252,000 Romanians & Bulgarians in the UK (up 50,000 in 1 year)
-20% don't work & are reliant on British taxpayers (up 15 fold!)
-107,000 applied for national insurance numbers in 1 year

New study by migration watch (who correctly predicted the 50,000 figure) also confirms immigrants do not contribute to the UK economy and that 90% of immigrants are low skilled

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11316680/Number-of-Romanians-and-Bulgarians-not-in-work-increases-15-fold-in-eight-years.html

And the other parties want Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey and Albania to have free access to the UK next

The latest figures show:
-exactly what has been predicted about 50,000 Romanians and Bulgarians a year.
-net emigration of Brits is 50,000 a year.
-28% of Britons don't work & are reliant on the British taxpayers.

On a more serious note:
No sources are given for the information only what migration watch has said about a UCL report.
The immigrants from the two countries mentioned have a greater proportion of employed than the rest of the UK.
Just because some don't work doesn't automatically mean they are claiming benefits.

Reply 12

The Socktor

18

Didn't UKIP pretty much predict a zombie apocalypse?

Reply 13

iEatMuFFiNS

14

Robots will take over many laborious proletarian jobs in 10-20 years or so...

Reply 14

username878267

15

Let's focus on immigration meanwhile ignoring the far, far greater amount of money lost by tax avoidance.
Let's forget all the positive, proven impacts of immigration and also conveniently ignore all the millions of Brits who live in other European countries aswell.
When you pick and choose what to take into account, you can 'prove' any point you want really.

Reply 15

democracyforum

4

Original post by Ace123

UKIP said before borders opened that immigration from these two countries would be big & a drain on public resources and they have been proven right.

The latest figures shows that after 1 year of border being opened:
-there are 252,000 Romanians & Bulgarians in the UK (up 50,000 in 1 year)
-20% don't work & are reliant on British taxpayers (up 15 fold!)
-107,000 applied for national insurance numbers in 1 year

New study by migration watch (who correctly predicted the 50,000 figure) also confirms immigrants do not contribute to the UK economy and that 90% of immigrants are low skilled

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11316680/Number-of-Romanians-and-Bulgarians-not-in-work-increases-15-fold-in-eight-years.html

And the other parties want Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey and Albania to have free access to the UK next

1) Cameron's renegotiations will allow us to reduce total EU immigration.
2) Cameron's renegotiations will allow us to deport unemployed EU migrants on benefits.

Reply 16

ChaoticButterfly

20

Original post by Viridiana

I think you Brits should make living in your country and doing nothing more difficult... You can't just give money to anyone who comes and asks for it and I'm saying it as a person who lives in a poor EU country and wants to come to Britain. But I just want to start a life, work my way towards my career goals and integrate. Like if one day I ask the government to just give me money because I'm here and I want it, just throw me into the ocean.

People will still blame you for everything under the sun. You make good scape goats. In fact you will be seen as stealing our jobs. You can't win I'm afraid :rolleyes:

That and there are plenty of people here who work and still receive benefits.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 17

Viridiana

12

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

People will still blame you for everything under the sun. You make good scape goats. In fact you will be seen as stealing our jobs. You can't win I'm afraid :rolleyes:

That and there are plenty of people here who work and still receive benefits.

I see nothing wrong in an immigrant working and receiving benefits, I think when someone works, is honest, doesn't steal etc etc they should be treated as nearly equal to a citizen until they become one if they want to. But if someone comes to make trouble and live off welfare, it's pathetic...

Reply 18

Observatory

20

Original post by Ace123

-there are 252,000 Romanians & Bulgarians in the UK (up 50,000 in 1 year)
-20% don't work & are reliant on British taxpayers (up 15 fold!)

I think these are interesting statistics. They suggest that:

1. A lot of Romanians and Bulgarians were able to, and did, come to the UK even without the EU free movement entitlements

2. The Romanians and Bulgarians who needed the EU movement rights at the margin were the ones we didn't want

This fits much more closely with Douglas Carswell's vision of selective but relatively open immigration, rather than the more typical UKIP view of dramatically reduced numbers across the board.

Reply 19

Rakas21

21

Original post by democracyforum

1) Cameron's renegotiations will allow us to reduce total EU immigration.
2) Cameron's renegotiations will allow us to deport unemployed EU migrants on benefits.

I do think that point 2 is likely but point 1 is unlikely given wages alone will likely be enough of a draw that immigrants won't mind the effects of point 2 much.

UKIP proven right on Romanian & Bulgarian immigration

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