Pay them and they will come
Fraser Nelson 1:39amA perennial problem in politics is whether you pay miscreants to behave if the cost of treating them is higher. Why not pay drug addicts to go clean, given that the cost of handling their eventual addiction could be several times the payment? The answer comes down to one of morality. Why should junkies be given cash we routinely deny to pensioners who have paid taxes for their lifetime?
That’s why I think Liam Byrne, a minister for whom I have high regard, has made a grave error in promising up to £4,000 to bogus asylum seekers who agree to go home. Cheaper that the £11,000 of enforced returns, he says But let’s go back to the pensioners: this winter at least 20,000 of them are likely to die from the cold (and related illnesses).For a few hundred pounds, they could keep their flat warm all winter. Yet there was no extra winter fuel allowance in the pre-Budget report (it is not, you see, an election year). So what does giving £4,000 packages (including private school funding) say about our national priorities?
And my final complaint: illegal immigrants already think Britain is a soft touch. Now, for them, it's a case of 'heads you get to stay in Britain, tails you get a £4,000 consolation prize and a free flight back home'. If Mr Byrne thinks this will discourage the chaps camped out in Cherbourg from coming here, good luck to him.
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Hoi Polloi
October 21st, 2007 7:04pm Report this commentWhat it all boils down to Fraser, is that by being immigrant friendly Labour are closely shadowing their Democrat friends in the US. Being seen to be liberal on immigration is seen by Democrats as being their key to locking into themselves the Hispanic vote to the same extent that they customarily enjoy over 90% of the Black and Jewish vote. Here Labour have always enjoyed the overwhelming support of Irish and Muslim immigrants and now they no doubt plan to secure for themselves the grateful votes of all those whose path to British citizenship they have facilitated over the last decade. MigrationWatch (they are always derided by Labour, the BBC and Trevor Phillips - so they must be right) figures are net 2 million immigrants since 1997 and, given the disparate birthrates of native/immigrant communities, a potential lock-in advantage for the Left for generations ahead.
Angelo Basu
October 22nd, 2007 11:53am Report this commentA shocking waste and actually a worse policy on immigration than the BNP's! At least they are talking about paying people who have a right to be here to leave (although they've never responded to my request for a quote as to how much they'd be looking to offer me). If you shouldn't be here in the first place, why on earth should we be paying you to do what you should be compelled to do anyway?
jfrancishill
October 23rd, 2007 1:17am Report this commentGood judgement is a rare bird in this jungle.
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