David Cameron on Immigration

Prime Minister David Cameron is to launch an attack on mass immigration, saying it has created "discomfort and disjointedness" within communities. Skip related content

Video: David Cameron Attacks Mass Immigration
Cameron to link immigration to 'woeful' welfare system David Cameron
Government plans to reduce immigration to the UK will hinge on stamping out the country's benefits culture, he will say.

The premier will argue foreign workers cannot be blamed for taking jobs if the "woeful" welfare system means many Britons can afford to live on state handouts rather than work.

He believes the issues are "two sides of the same coin" and that the Government "would never control immigration properly if it didn't tackle welfare dependency".

Mr Cameron will add he wants to see tighter controls on student visas and the number of skilled workers coming to the UK.

The proposals are designed to make it more difficult for those on temporary visas to remain permanently in the country.

He plans to impose "transitional" limits on the number of migrants from countries joining the European Union in the future.

And the PM will say he hopes a sensible debate on the issue will starve extremist parties of the "oxygen of public anxiety".

Mr Cameron will claim that despite three-quarters of the 2.5 million new British jobs since 1997 having been taken by foreign workers, it was "not a case of immigrants coming over here and taking our jobs".

"The real issue is this: migrants are filling gaps in the labour market left wide open by a welfare system that for years has paid British people not to work," he will say.

"That's where the blame lies - at the door of our woeful welfare system, and the last government who comprehensively failed to reform it.

"So, immigration and welfare reform are two sides of the same coin. Put simply, we will never control immigration properly unless we tackle welfare dependency.

Mr Cameron will claim that between 1997 and 2009 net immigration reached 2.2 million - "the largest influx of people Britain has ever had" - leaving schools and hospitals struggling.

And under plans aimed at reducing the number of student visas issued by 80,000 a year, colleges will only be able to offer degree-level courses to students with a "proper grasp" of English.

Only post-graduates will be allowed to bring their dependants to the UK and foreign students will not be allowed to work during their time in the country.

He will add: "Yes, Britain will always be open to the best and brightest from around the world and those fleeing persecution.

"But with us, our borders will be under control and immigration will be at levels our country can manage."

The point being The Conservative Government have always been against immigration only for the last 40 years they have had to keep quiet about these policies because of the massive voting power that immigrants have in this country. But public opinion is changing at the moment and they feel safe in displaying these policies once more.

The thing is successive governments for years have known that what Cameron is now saying is true but haven't had the guts to do anything about it for the fear of loosing votes. Because public opinion on the issue has changed they now feel safe to do so. It's true I think to say that whichever government was in power at the moment they would do something about the issue. It just amazes that it has taken any government so long to get around to it, as this country decided years ago that we could no longer accommodate any further immigration and we effectively put an end to it. The the EU comes along and tell us we have to open our borders again to any member nation of the EU. Where were the Conservative party then?

Phil

I don't think you are entirely correct Phil. The Conservatives positively encouraged immigration of white people from Rhodesia, and countries around there, after independence. I, on occasion, met some of these, and , though some were OK, many were some of the most obnoxious, unthinking, stuck-up, self-centred people imaginable. They were also all of conservative (in the sense of the Marie Antoinette - let them eat cake) type). Unfortunately we were landed with these scum.

Mike

I remember at the time of the troubles in Rhodesia we were providing skips for a renovation job at the Midland Red Bus depot in Digbeth in the early 70's. The Site agent there was a South African (I shan't give his name) but he had rather aggressive views on the native population of that country. Even is this country I watched him one day give a dressing down to a coloured worker while all the time addressing him as "boy". When the man walked away the Site Agent mumbled "bloody kaffir". I just don't know how he was allowed to get away with it.

He said one day that he was returning to South Africa, I asked if he wasn't a little afraid of what was happening in Rhodesia would not happen there. His word were "we would never allow blacks to take over the country". I wonder what happened to him.

Phil

He probably came to the UK to be welcomed by the establishment. I did particularly like the story told to me by a little old lady I was talking to in Reading, over 15 years ago. Her son and family , who had been in Rhodesia for 30 years or so had just returned to England. She remembered that, when she visited them over there, they insisted that she not do anything herself, and a servant had to follow her around and do the most menial things for her. It really got up her nose. Shortly after they came back to live in the UK, their young children came running to their grandma , who was visiting shouting " Come and see, Grandma - Mummy is WASHING UP !!!". It apparently was earth shattering.