"British jobs for British workers."

[Workingman]

Bosch Siemens AG operates in 60 countries and its subsidiaries make up 60% of turnover. The group was operating outside what has become the EU long before it existed.

VW took over Seat (Spain) and Skoda (Czechoslovakia) long before those countries even applied to join the EEC/EU.

Fiat was making cars in Russia, Yugoslavia and Poland long before the enlargement of the EEC began.

Being a member, or not being a member, of the Common Market/EEC/EU has been no impediment to moving production to cheaper areas. It has been a tactic long employed by big businesses since time began. National governments have to work to EU rules but they cannot prevent private companies from making business decisions to benefit the business.

One other thing about the EU and free movement. The free movement is of labour not the free movement of populations. Anybody is free to move around to look for work, but countries in which they are seeking work can impose restrictions whilst they are looking for work. In some countries of the EU those restrictions are forcefully applied.

[Suff]

Actually the free movement is for everyone. If you are on holiday, buying a house for retirement, etc, you are totally free to do so. The restrictions are really only on workers and, usually, only in some of the core EU countries. For instance it's not easy to work in either the Netherlands or Germany. But mainly for tax avoidance reasons. Back in 2002/3 IBM was fined €8m for tax evasion of it's contractors in the Netherlands. 3M was fined closer to €16m. As a result, the changes put in place mean that you simply can't work there without the Government approval and without paying their taxes and social fund. Actually that's illegal as you are allowed 6 months before it applies. But nobody will employ you so it's a moot point.

There are 10's of thousands of British people living in France on their British pensions paying British tax on those British pensions because the UK government won't allow them to pay it in France. Even more in Spain.

There are half a million French living and working in the South East of England, mainly in London.....

[Workingman]

We are talking a bit at cross-purposes.

My OP was about the double standards employed by the media and politicians. Brown says: "British jobs for British workers." and everyone agrees. Farage says much the same thing and cries of "racist" ring out loud and clear.

Thankfully both Sky and the BBC and other media allowed comments, and the overwhelming response was one of support for Farage. It just goes to show how out of touch with the public the media and politicians are.

[Suff]

Yes I did get it was not quite the point. But, also, the point is that they just don't know what they are talking about.

It seems the press have no clue who to like.....

[Kaz]

The press don't actually 'like' anyone! They like stories, and it seems are quite prepared to make their own by fair means or foul

[Suff]

Google News is your friend.

[KateLMead]

As for the Muslim Fifth Column piece, it is something I have been saying
for a long time. Councils, the police, media and politicians all know it
exists, but are afraid to tackle it.

Why do you think they are afraid to tackle it? Can't they see that the
longer they procrastinate the more difficult the problem will become?

What we need is politicians to whom the future well-being of this country
is their top priority and who have the courage to take whatever action is
necessary. Oh, for another Churchill.

With the way this country is going UK could become another Syria. No good these damnable politicians pretending "it Ain't Happening"

[Suff]

Not really likely to become a Syria. In the end, on the UK scale, Syria is a piddling little nothing of an economy with a dictator for a ruler. We would have to slip a long, long way down our standards before we could even begin to get to where Syria is.

However, the country is descending into something I don't recognise.

Again everyone has to remember that the UK is the 4th largest nuclear power in the world. Not only is it unlikely that we would descend into civil war of this type, the rest of the world cannot afford to let us. Syria can burn for all we care, the UK would become the largest risk to the planet if we descended into civil war and everyone in NATO would descend on us to secure our Nuclear stockpile and "stabilise" the country.

Never think that just because our country is turning into an apologist, politically correct, "race whore" of a country, that we are in the same situation as any of the Arab Spring countries.

It is something I read with great irritation when people like Darling or Cable witter on about the UK as if we are some backwater banana republic in the EU. Cable: "The UK will be adrift without the EU". It is akin to saying the US will be lost without NAFTA. Not quite the same scale but certainly in the same ballpark. It is not the UK who will hurt most if the UK leaves the EU.

[miasmum]

We don't bring in Indian workers for IT jobs, we take the jobs over there.

BT, Barclays, M&S Bank, all Indian based call centres.

Avon has shipped its manufacturing to Poland. We can't really moan about British jobs for British workers when we are happily employing staff abroad on a minimum wage, that is quite possibly less than our minimum wage.

Sorry WM I appreciate this is off topic

[Workingman]

You make a fair point, Shell, jobs have been exported, but there are some jobs which cannot be. Working in bars and restaurants and on farms, driving cabs and buses, all sorts of work in supermarkets and retail outlets, carers, the NHS; these are the jobs Farage is talking about. It is mainly these jobs that are being taken up by immigrants. Yes, they are low skilled and low paid, but they are the sort of starter jobs many young people entering the workforce once relied on to get on the first rung of the ladder.

That rung has been taken away and they are shoehorned onto poor level training designed to do the jobs they are currently denied. It is a double cost to the country. Our own people are on benefits or in training.... or doing useless but expensive degrees, while the migrants are using up resources in schools, housing and the NHS etc.