The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Cameron's bizarre immigration speech

The PM's odd plan to crackdown on migrant sponsors.

By George Eaton Published 10 October 2011 11:51

David Cameron is making something of a habit of rewriting his speeches. Last week, he hastily withdrew his politically insensitive and economically illiterate call for people to pay off their credit cards, now, ahead of his speech on immigration at 1pm, he has abandoned plans to require all firms to publish a list of migrants working for them (an attempt to shame companies into taking on more "indigenous labour").

At a time when the government is ostensibly cutting red tape, the proposal was rightly opposed by industry as a unnecessary regulatory burden. But even with this last-minute revision, there are still plenty of odd passages in the speech.

For instance, according to the Guardian, he will warn that of 500 family migration cases checked, more than 70 per cent of UK-based sponsors had post-tax earnings of less than £20,000 a year. He will add: "When the income level of the sponsor is this low, there is an obvious risk that the migrants and their family will become a significant burden on the welfare system and the taxpayer." In response, the Migration Advisory Committee will look at the case for "increasing the minimum level for appropriate maintenance."

Yet as Cameron may or may not be aware, the median wage in this country is £26,000, meaning that most people have a post-tax income of little more than £20,000 [net take-home pay for someone on £26,000 is £19,811.48]. If Cameron really believes that anyone earning this much is at risk of becoming a "significant burden" on the taxpayer shouldn't his government be doing more to boost real incomes? Since it is not, the suspicion remains that this is merely a poor excuse for another crackdown.

The PM's doomed attempt to reduce net migration to "tens of thousands" a year is yet another example of a government policy that strangles growth rather than encouraging it.

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Tags: Immigration

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15 comments

Mon, 2011-10-10 22:21 — Eddy S (not verified)

Cameron's made a very good point, if you want to sponsor someone you need to have the means, clearly we need a higher threshold for sponsors.

Mon, 2011-10-10 23:30 — Simon (not verified)

No wonder Britain fails to progress, so many classist comments, still so deeply mired in ancient antagonism and infighting...Don't you have any more imagination that to keep criticizing leadership who have finally begun to say what needed saying, and doing what needed done over a decade ago? After so many months proof of the mess that Labour caused, are you all seriously still of the deluded belief that they are any more effective?? The reason this country is in the mess its in is because Labour cared only for their ratings and public perception, so always chose the most "popular" route - but that is not leadership! Labour's legacy is why we're all having to live through austerity now: Spending beyond the country and each individual's means, trying to become the worlds financial centre through 'light regulation' allowing the wrong FI's unbridled freedom, and despite being fraction of the size of other existing markets; dumbing down the education system to make it look like everyone is passing the exams to equalise the league tables; passing immigration laws and structuring a welfare system that encourage fraud on a national scale and neglect of the very people welfare was created to help (the indigenous poor); going to war against the nation's express wishes; selling all the nation's gold at the lowest relative price in a century; introducing hundreds of undeclared changes to British law (see The Spectator) to support US antiterror policies and even for a brief period allow authorities to detain without charge, forfeiting our rights to freedom; destroying decades of international diplomatic efforts (which directly correlates with every Briton's right of passage to other countries, be it on holiday or for work); undermining the very fabric of society by encouraging an unbridled "youf" culture and then acting surprised when they go on a looting rampage...seriously people?? Wake up and stop focussing on the wrong priorities - fix your own finances, support the recovery, and bring back old values rather than bleat about where our leadership went to school.

Tue, 2011-10-11 00:20 — Sue Davies (not verified)

If Cameron is cracking down on immigration, why is he signed up to the EU/India FTA that is, in effect, 85% a UK deal? Under this, Indian companies operating in Delhi and London could move low-paid workers from India to Britain, undercutting workers domestically... creating a 'slave-tier' of workers with no legal rights.

http://think-left.org/2011/09/16/the-very-design-of-neoliberal-principle...

' the UK government is even now encouraging the use of a cheap labour supply that not only displaces workers here but also damages the national economy in a variety of ways. Wages are repatriated overseas, the earn/spend cycle needed for recovery is broken, workers become unemployed and the welfare bill increases, the employment future for young people is further curtailed, and skills transfer are lost for the future'

http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2011/09/01/comment-the-secret...

Tue, 2011-10-11 07:32 — Luddite (not verified)

Let's never forget LABOUR'S own 'bizarre immigration' policy. That saw real wages forced down and life opportunities denied to millions of our young people.

Tue, 2011-10-11 08:51 — Voicegig (not verified)

A full copy of this speech is available for free at: http://www.voicegig.com/view-speech/1693/On-Immigration

Tue, 2011-10-11 09:29 — swatantra nandanwar

'Protectionism' is intrinsically wrong. You can't have a 'Free Market' and 'Protectionism' at the same time. So people who profess 'Jobs for British Workers' need to go back to their textbooks.
There are ways that British Workers can compete in the global job market, but I won't spell that out here, because everyone knows the answer.

Mon, 2011-10-10 13:34 — Rob (not verified)

Just out of interest George, but from a centre left or progressive point of view, do you think that allowing immigration numbers to be measured in the hundreds of thousands is a good thing for the country? If so, could you explain why?

Mon, 2011-10-10 12:23 — David (not verified)

He is lurching from one gaffe to the next at the moment. If it were Gordon Brown doing all this, he'd be painted as a dithering incompetent. Why isn't Cameron coming under the required scrutiny by the majority of the media. Oh, I forgot they all support him.

Mon, 2011-10-10 13:08 — JGB (not verified)

I'm trying to decide if this man is becoming a bad joke or whether he always was one. I suspect the latter as after every ill-considered gaffe it becomes clearer why he wasn't able to pursue his career in PR.

Mon, 2011-10-10 13:56 — booyakasha (not verified)

how about this for a great idea: all the media that gets pre-briefed with news of an amazing speech by the likes of Camoron or Gideon etc just not say a word about it, keep absolutely shtum in the lead-up to the said event, and then let the varmints fall on their words for real!!! wah ha ha ha!!!

Mon, 2011-10-10 13:57 — Duncan Stott (not verified)

The median wage is a lot lower than £26,000. That figure sounds more like the mean wage.

Mon, 2011-10-10 14:09 — Neville Peters (not verified)

David Cameron is trying to hard to placate the Tory loony right wing, as evidenced by his backing of May over Clarke regarding the ludicrous cat story.

The trouble is, the loony right are an incoherent, knee-jerk rabble, so any attempt Cameron makes to appease them will appear knee-jerk and incoherent.

What we're seeing is a one-term PM running scared from his own party.

Mon, 2011-10-10 14:34 — Hugh Markey (not verified)

The PM (not past master) is playing the silly ass that made P.G.Woodhouse's character Bertie such a successful phenomenon.
It suited the landed gentry, the upper set and motivated aspiring young individuals from whatever class.
The only problem with this picture is that George Osborne looks more like a bookies-runner( no disrespect to Johnny Major ) than an avuncular, if supercilious, man-servant.
Made in Chelsea - watch!

Rt Hon

Mon, 2011-10-10 16:26 — Tom (not verified)

Why won't the MSM criticize Cameron more? The same reason the Stateside MSM won't touch Obama. Corporate ownership. They backed both in their elections. Now, the same thing with Obama in 2012.

Mon, 2011-10-10 19:33 — gerry (not verified)

Cameron is a fake, and everyone knows it!

The only way to reduce immigration is to
1) Leave the EU so that the millions of Eastern Europeans are not able to live/work in Britain by right - which would also mean that UK citizens would lose their right to live/work in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland etc: shame!

2)Pour resources into the Border and Immigration services so that all illgeal immigrants are found, arrested and deported. There are over 2 million illegal immigrants in the UK, of which 750,000 are in London alone. A reporting helpline is a con, Mr Cameron..you will need to employ thousands of staff to round up these illegals!

3)And withdraw from all Euro human rights legislation, and repatriate all law making powers back to the UK. But as we all know this has been kicked into the long grass for the foreseeable future...

His speech is a con, a fake, worse than useless..and even rightwing Tories know that!