Tom
TS Member
The Conservative Party is lobbied and funded by businesses to open the floodgates of workers that will work for the UK minimum wage (and less in some cases). If this continues under Labour, who are largely funded by the Unions who should be protecting living standards, then our fate is certainly a locked-in erosion of living standards for the the vast majority of workers.So why does legal, visa-based immigration, continue at the levels that it does?
Simply put, why do we need to employ foreign nationals to do minimum wage jobs when we have circa 1.5 million people unemployed (and largely capable of working)? It's not about demonising the people that come here, I do not blame them for one second, it is about how the government is prepared to water down living standards - or at best supress potential growth for the average person.
With respect you're missing the key point - I said GDP per capita, i.e. per person. Of course with so many people coming into the country, more money is being generated and GDP for the entire country is going up, but that is spread across a rapidly increasing population. Take a look at this. Slight uptick in the last quarter, but look at the general trend since Brexit, after which immigration numbers exploded despite Brexiteers promises to the contrary.regarding the GDP reduction, do you have any source for that, because I can't find anything but the opposite even from very anti-migration sources. It's usually mentioned as "migration increases GDP...but..."
And regarding wage suppression in certain sectors, why are these sectors still on the "skilled workers needed" list in our points based system? What's the reason for that, does anyone know?
And while I'm on the issue of living standards, why should a certain age group be guaranteed a 2.5% income rise even if the economy were to nosedive and inflation turns negative....other than the fact they are more likely to vote (and usually Conservative at that)?