May's speech ignores the facts of immigration

A RISING fear of the impact of migration is starting to give right wing politicians the opportunity they have been looking for to gain votes. Even politicians who had previously styled themselves as appealing to the middle ground have started to shift to an increasingly right wing, anti-immigration stance in an attempt to pander to the fears of the electorate.
On Tuesday British Home Secretary Theresa May demonstrated just how far she was prepared to go in her bid to become the next Conservative leader. Making up for a lack of facts with an over abundance of inflammatory remarks during her speech at the Conservative Party Conference Ms May showed that she is prepared to play to the right and drive a wedge through British society.
Instead of looking at the figures Ms May seemed intent on stereotyping immigrants as coming to Britain to steal jobs and be a burden on the public purse. It didn’t seem to matter to Ms May that this flew in the face of the information generated by a report from her own department which stated: “There is relatively little evidence that migration has caused statistically significant displacement of UK natives from the labour market in periods when the economy is strong.”
This use of refugees as scapegoats is not new, politicians have always looked to shift the blame and focus away from their own incompetence. It is however concerning that in a day and age where information is so prevalent and verifiable that such a senior figure within the British government can think that it is acceptable to mislead the electorate in such a blatant way. Perhaps more concerning is the knowledge that many people will listen and believe it.
Serious studies on the economic impact of immigration show that at worst it makes little to no difference in the structure of a society or its fiscal stability, at best it creates significant further employment opportunities, higher wages, long term growth and increased stability within the structure.
In many European countries an ageing population means that within the coming decades there are quite simply not enough people to do the jobs which need doing. This does not take into account the jobs being created by the influences of skilled migrant workers and the additional revenue to the treasury brought  in over time by through the earnings of new entrants in the labour market.
At its very simplest the migration creates an increase in supply and demand. Through more people entering demand for a good rises. To meet this demand supply needs to be increased and to do this you need people to create the good in the first place. The people doing this earn wages and using these they buy more goods, and so the cycle goes on.
While this is an incredibly simplified explanation, lacking in the nuanced details of economic modelling it is a demonstration of why Ms May is so wrong in her analysis of the situation. Meanwhile statements that immigration drives down wages goes against the figures demonstrating how even low skilled workers help drive up pay in numerous industries.
Immigration reduces the deficit through the increased number of taxes being paid, which in turn is used to prop up the public services Ms May seems so sure will disintegrate under the pressure. As for the argument that it "impossible to build a cohesive society” as Ms May so vilely asserts, that argument has been used before, It was used to argue against equal rights for women, it was used for why the slave trade could not be abolished, it has been used to defend every heinous and reprhensible act committed in the name of preserving the status quo.
Times change, cultures change, people change. Immigration won’t collapse our economy, destroy our culture or threaten our society. Immigration is what sustains these things. Immigration enables us to grow culturally and economically. It creates new opportunities for business and provides a basis for jobs in the future. In short it is the opposite of everything Ms May claims it to be.

An immigrant by any other name is an expat

THE recent unrest at Calais, and the British government's response, has highlighted the knee jerk decisions politicians are being drawn to.
From the way in which the news portrays the current migrant issues on Britain's border you could quite easily be forgiven for thinking that a rerun of Agincourt was taking place. Images of valiant British longbow archers manning the walls of Castle Eurotunnel holding back the threat of invasion from the onrushing hoardes spring to mind.
Never mind the fact that the thousands of people trying to enter Britain are more likely to be starving, afraid and driven by a desperation to survive, rather than the image of savage criminals being pushed by the right wing.
Having spent some time living abroad my social media feeds are populated by a number of people who have chosen to head in the opposite direction and leave the country for sunnier climates. Fair play and good luck to all who try it.
What is interesting though is the number of people who having decided to leave the country, and in more than a couple of cases still quite happily recieving some form of payments from the British government, condemn the number of immigrants, documented and otherwise, who have chosen to enter it. This is aside from the downright racist attitudes of some to the country they have chosen to live in.
If you told many of these individuals that they were immigrants they would be horrified, and from experience come out with some quite colourful phrases. They are expatriates and proud of it. They are bringing skills and money which other countries must need because they aren't Britain. Obviously the aim of any country is to become a carbon copy of the UK to please those sunburned philanthropic souls who have chosen to head to the sun bringing with them civilisation, lager and beerguts.
The only difference between expats and immigrants is the direction which they are travelling.
Mass immigration is not feasible by any measure but blocking all immigration is likewise pointless. Expats entering the UK bring with them necessary skills and finances, by any genuine balanced measure people coming into the country generate more money for the treasury than they take out of it. They also do not "steal British jobs" they do the jobs which people in Britain aren't. As the old joke goes "If someone entering this country with no qualifications and unable to speak the language can steal your job you may want to seriously look at how badly you were doing it".
Fortunately for those gripped by a UKIPesque fear of immigration, you can normally spot them by the line "I'm not racist but...", the British government is on their side. Legislation to criminalise providing homes to undocumented expats and deporting people who have worked in the country for a set number of years will have the Daily Mail readers rubbing their hands together in glee, nevermind the fact that it will cripple public services such as the NHS and create an atmosphere of legalised discrimination against people who have jumped through the miriad of hoops to live in Britain.
I was mistaken before when I said there was only one difference between an expat and an inmigrant, it is also a state of mind. When terms such as "swarm" are used by the Prime Minister to describe human beings who have crossed thousands of miles, risked starvation and death via multiple means to seek a better life, when men, women and children are perceieved as vermin, when we see other people as somehow less deserving of dignity and respect than ourselves then it is a state of mind which needs changing.
There is no doubt that immigration needs to be managed but to create and atmosphere where one person is viewed as less deserving of the chance to survive than another is not the way.

EU drives towards "flatter" world

The European Union has always proved to be a contentious subject in recent months, however, it has progressed to being an explosive topic.

For countries such as Turkey membership of the bloc has been something viewed with awe. Concessions have been made and flaming hoops jumped through as it continues down a long road to potential acceptance.

Meanwhile there is Britain which is fighting to rework the European Union into something more amenable to its electorate. For both sides of the debate the challenges can be daunting. For both the road they are walking is likely to be filled with opponents trying to stop their progress. The road has always had people waiting in the verges though to provide a helping hand. These good Samaritans seem to be becoming scarcer on both sides as states look to maintaining their own interests.

Most recently German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned British Prime Minister David Cameron that she was losing patience with him over Europe. In a widely quoted article in the German newspaper Der Spiegel she reportedly said that she would not allow Mr Cameron to introduce limits on the number of immigrants moving between countries within the bloc.

For potential members like Turkey such a move would be catastrophic. The freedom of workers to move around the European Union to follow the jobs has become a crucial part of its ability to maintain as standing as an industrialised trading bloc. This arguing in favour of such movement highlight the ways in which it helps European countries combat the hegemony of America and balance trade. 

Those who support Mr Cameron, many of whom have preferred to stay in the verges rather than risk crossing the powerful Merkel, would argue that this movement tends to be from low skilled workers who take jobs available to the indigenous population. 

Even the most ardent Eurosceptic must see that this argument is flawed. Possibly this is why Mr Cameron's usual supporters remain hidden in the shadows. The free movement of workers would allow countries, such as Turkey, to receive foreign capital as at least a portion of wages cross borders back home. Perhaps this is why right wing groups fear workers from outside their own country. It would make a better argument than unsubstantiated xenophobia or bigotry after all. 

The outflow of capital, however, is more than compensated for by lower wage costs leading to higher profits and therefore companies paying increased taxes. 

It is the reduction of jobs for locals which remains the main concern though. It is one which the honest solution of working harder and doing a good job is treated with genuine anathema amongst antagonists. The failure to realise that it allows for domestic workers to follow the jobs seems to have escaped their attention.

The European Union has moved on from is founding principles. It's growth and subsequent subsumption of countries has overridden the sovereignty of the Peace of Westphalia. It's evolution, however, distasteful to some, is inevitable though as the world becomes flatter. 

Those countries looking to join can saw hope from the fact that no matter what the countries seeking to change the EU may think the world is moving and it is moving towards a closer union.