Immigration part of population problem
BRITAIN is suffering a population crisis. There are far too many people living on this small island. It's all part of a bigger problem, there are too many people living on a small planet. Immigration is a part of that problem and I'm pleased people are beginning to address the symptoms if not the root of the problem.
Immigration has been a hot potato ever since Enoch Powell made his rivers of blood speech. Your headline "It's time carefully to control immigration", suggests to me that Hugo Swire among others is approaching it from the wrong direction.
Let's look back to the refugee camps at Calais. Why are angry people gathering at Calais? Why are angry people gathering at France's border with Britain determined to get into this country? Why not Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Italy or Spain? They gather like flies around a honey pot.
There lies the problem. Who told them they could work without a permit? Have their children free on the NHS without contributing to it? Rent the cheapest homes when millions are homeless? Claim welfare benefit from day one?
If we can do something about state sponsored poverty the problem will melt away.
GR Holwill
Stoke Hill Crescent
Exeter
Comments
by Will, Mid Devon
Thursday, January 28 2010, 11:57AM
“If the UK is such a ¿honeypot¿ for immigrants, why does it have such a low percentage of immigrants in its population compared to other European countries? According to Wikipediea, in terms of total numbers, Russia, Germany, Ukraine and France all have higher immigrant populations. As a percentage of the population ¿ and ignoring microstates like Andorra, Monaco, Luxembourg, San Marino and Lichtenstein, in which between 32% and 77% of the populations are immigrants ¿ the UK comes way down the list at about 9%, below countries like Switzerland (23%), Latvia (19%), Estonia (15%), Austria (15%), Ukraine (15%), Croatia (15%), Cyprus (14%), Ireland (14%), Moldova (13%), Germany (12%), Sweden (12%), Belarus (12%), Spain (11%), France (10%), and the Netherlands (10%). Admittedly these are 2005 figures, but I doubt whether the UK has climbed far up the charts since then.
Those "angry" (?) would-be immigrants queuing up at Calais will need a work permit if they come from outside the European Economic Area, and I don't think you can get unemployment benefit "from day one" either - its my understanding that you have to have worked here for a minimum length of time, although I may be wrong.”