Immigration will increase thanks to the Living Wage
THE introduction of the Living Wage – £7.20 for workers aged 25 and over – is welcome on many counts.
The living wage will be £7.20 an hour
But Cabinet minister John Whittingdale has warned that one unintended consequence will be to increase immigration from EU countries.
The Living Wage will be attractive to low-paid and low-skilled workers from the continent who, thanks to freedom of movement rules, can simply up sticks and come here.
Helping to lift our own citizens out of low pay is one thing but encouraging more and more migrants to take advantage of this increase is quite another.
And it will add massively to existing pressures on our schools and health service.
The Culture Secretary’s intervention will not please Downing Street for it is yet another sign of the deepening internal rift among the Tories over Europe.
Mr Whittingdale has cast a shadow over a totemic piece of government policy and will not be thanked for it.
It is not of course John Whittingdale’s intention that the Living Wage should be scrapped. Far from it.
But as he knows his remarks will be seized upon by the Leave campaign.
Here is yet another reason why we must vote for Brexit in the referendum on June 23 so that we can reclaim our ability to determine our own future.
The Living Wage will be helpful to many but let’s make sure it is not simply another incentive for thousands to come to live here.
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EU mothers have cost the NHS £1billion over the last 10 years
Maternity costs soaring
ONE billion pounds in maternity care costs in the last 10 years.
That’s the financial impact of the ever-increasing numbers of babies born in Britain to mothers from other European Union countries, according to research by Conservative MP Anne Maine.
She says: “These figures show just one small side of the major cost of immigration to our public services.”
It is estimated that antenatal, birth and postnatal care cost the NHS an average of £2,800 for each woman.
And between 2005-2014 a total of 475,935 babies were born in England and Wales to mothers who were themselves born in another EU state.
And that is only the start. These babies must be educated and their health and wellbeing maintained.
Maternity costs are almost the smallest part of raising a child to adulthood.
Britain cannot go on picking up this bill. We must vote to leave the EU.
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Banana crops are threatened by a tropical disease
The new yellow peril
BANANA crops are being devastated by the Panama Disease Fungus. Yes we have no bananas? We can only hope that won’t be the case for Britain’s favourite fruit.