UK PM Theresa May to seek snap election.

[Deleted]

Net migration is around 300,000, I would need to see a full breakdown on the current skill levels of those to see if 100,000 is too low. It has to be balanced with the strain on infrastructure as well.

Economic benefits of immigation are not uniform, give me one wealthy Frenchie for every fifty Bulgarian car washers any day. A more targeted immigration policy would be a benefit overall, getting the balance right is a fucking nightmare though.

There is a break even rate of something like £36k earnings to when you are a net positive to the country, as it stands EU migrants do not need to earn anywhere near that to live in the UK, having a threshold of around that figure before allowing entry should see an overall increase to the economy, I think for non-EU it is £30k at present.

just to be clear here, the EU migration is currently a net 0 cost - Sure, some do, and others pay their share - But non EU migration is a 15 billion pound loss.

[Kalis]

Even some Guardian columnists are struggling to hate it and they despise the Tories.

Anne Perkins: An attempt to remake the Tory party for the post-Brexit age

The Conservative party goes on and on and on, for one reason alone: from time to time, a leader comes along who redefines what it means to be Conservative. Margaret Thatcher was the last one who did that. Today Theresa May set out to pull off this same magical trick of renewal. The likelihood of lasting success will be measured in the size of her majority on 9 June. This manifesto is an attempt to retool the Tory party for the post-Brexit age.

She deliberately framed the next five years as the period during which the country will reshape itself, as it did in the time of recovery after 1945. There is a distinct and deliberate echo of Beveridge at the heart of the manifesto. In place of the Victorian ideas of want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness there are five 21st-century giant challenges: the economy, Brexit, social division, an ageing society and technology. As she said, forget tribal politics. Clem Attlee once said socialism was what a Labour government does. Asked about Mayism, she said she was just a good Conservative.

The excuse that in some way an election was an essential precondition to securing the best deal for the UK in the negotiations has been parked. This is an election all about finding a political accommodation with the discontent and alienation that was revealed by the referendum vote, in a manner that will put the Tories in power for a generation.

Thus May was strikingly upbeat: that chimes with qualitative polling that shows May makes leavers feel confident and hopeful to the same degree that she makes remainers angry and disgusted. She played on this with emotional, values-driven terms such as opportunity, hope, fairness and justice, ideas that cropped up almost as much as strong and stable.

She was conspicuously careful, however, not to abandon territory that might be grabbed by some kind of Macron-inspired progressive alternative: the meritocracy that she promises will emerge from Brexit will be blind to gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and education.

As a political strategy, it is dazzling. She has also got some bold policy prescriptions. She has at last addressed pensioner privilege and intergenerational unfairness. She wants to get a mandate for some very unpopular policies. But what she really set out to do was establish herself as the leader for her times.

Of the five giving an opinion on it, two are positive, one wrote gibberish, one is negative (but seems to believe in the magic money tree) and one says it is not right wing enough (she is the Guardian resident right winger).

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just to be clear here, the EU migration is currently a net 0 cost - Sure, some do, and others pay their share - But non EU migration is a 15 billion pound loss.

We can get rid of the EU scroungers to increase the economic gain from EU nationals, then hopefully the Tories will have enough of a majority to sort out the shitty legislation we have that hampers non-EU immigration.

It is in the interests of the Conservatives as well, as they tend to be Labour voters, so the Tories could kill off Labour permanently. Perhaps a Lib Dem resurgence if they can cream off the current Labour centrists. They could rebrand themselves as Whigs, go old school.

[dribbles]

just to be clear here, the EU migration is currently a net 0 cost - Sure, some do, and others pay their share - But non EU migration is a 15 billion pound loss.

How can almost half a million unemployed scroungers/refugees from the EU be 0 net cost? Not long to go until they are deported, then we can look forward to a zero net cost in a new strong and stable UK.

[Zelk]

I see the Tories are going to try solving the NHS Crisis by either forcing everyone over 70 into a care home or a coffin

[Kalis]

How can almost half a million unemployed scroungers/refugees from the EU be 0 net cost?

Because the rich as fuck Frenchies in West London, running from the punitive tax system in France, pay a fortune in taxes to Britain and balance it out.

Strangely enough nobody has been complaining about the French immigrants coming to Britain with their boulangeries and huge bank accounts. Nor is it likely they will be deported.

[Ryme]

Why is it not the same level? Its 2 people who should know their numbers and they don't? We all know it won't get the same media attention.

One's a slip of a numerical digit, they even sound similar (perhaps just a simple slip) and unless you have full knowledge they're both plausible. The other was a number plucked from the air that simple mental arithmetic shows to be ludicrous.

[dribbles]

The care costs being taken out of asset wealth seems to be the one most likely to cause issues, along with the free vote on fox hunting, other than those it is solid with no outrageous promises.

There's the major one. The fox hunting thing is a deflection to get the entitled left wing dumb kiddies angry and demonstrating when the bolded bit is really the oldies royally screwing the young out of any inheritance they might have hoped to get.

Effectively until the election the state pays much of any oaps care costs. After it will be the youth with their lost inheritance who pay for it, and because of cute cuddly foxes they won't even have a clue about the change until it's too late. Brilliant move.

[Kalis]

The other was a number plucked from the air that simple mental arithmetic shows to be ludicrous.

Unless Labour intend to fuck up the economy so badly that the Police will only be paid £30 per year.

[Deleted]

How can almost half a million unemployed scroungers/refugees from the EU be 0 net cost? Not long to go until they are deported, then we can look forward to a zero net cost in a new strong and stable UK.

because most EU migrants are employed tax payers.

[Kalis]

because most EU migrants are employed tax payers.

Most do not pay enough in taxes to have a zero cost though. Just because you pay tax does not mean you are a net benefit to the economy, as I mentioned earlier you would need to be earning around £36k to do that.

[dribbles]

because most EU migrants are employed tax payers.

No one is talking about deporting skilled tax payers from the UK, and unless the EU forcibly repatriates them they likely will be welcome to stay. Maybe all 2.5 million of them. Just the other half million scroungers need to be put on the ferry back to Sangatte.

That's what brexit was about you see, we will steal the EU skilled and educated people, while the EU looks after their trash rather than the UK.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Of course because of what they want they face vehement opposition from that most selfish boomer generation, who paint the young as entitled as you are doing, because any way out from their economic servitude necessarily means the boomers will take an economic hit. Hence they scapegoat and blame their victims, which in truth isn't unexpected given the utter selfishness they have shown.

It's a sad state of affairs, but hoping it'll be changed as you said as the selfish generation dies off due to age.

[Fleuria]

It's a sad state of affairs, but hoping it'll be changed as you said as the selfish generation dies off due to age.

Well then I guess the Tories proposed kill off the old, kinda helps this then.

This country is just screaming out for a young, sensible politician to break the mould as too many off the old guard pander to a certain paymaster be it the wealthy or the unions. Just need some one to come a long and rip shit up that doesn't a have shitty/sketchy back ground and actually appeals to people.

[Deleted]

Most do not pay enough in taxes to have a zero cost though. Just because you pay tax does not mean you are a net benefit to the economy, as I mentioned earlier you would need to be earning around £36k to do that.

I know.
My point stands however, the EU migrants do not cost the UK money on average.

[Kalis]

I know.
My point stands however, the EU migrants do not cost the UK money on average.

Not really, as the figures that show a zero cost do not include factors like additional the housing required. I used those sorts of figures when I was arguing for Remain, they were dodgy as fuck then, they have not become less dodgy with time.

Our immigration is far too high and too much of it is second rate, for want of a better phrase. The problem with EU immigration from the poorer parts to the wealthy parts is that it looks good on graphs for politicians, but in reality it is not so great.

Just taking one demographic, we have somewhere in the region of a million Poles in the UK, a sensible figure would be significantly less than that, maybe even as low as a fifth, which is why even those of us who supported Remain wanted the EU to be flexible over freedom of movement.

[Deleted]

Not really, as the figures that show a zero cost do not include factors like additional the housing required. I used those sorts of figures when I was arguing for Remain, they were dodgy as fuck then, they have not become less dodgy with time.

They also don't include the figures for being a part of the common market.
And regardless to go back to your prior post:

We can get rid of the EU scroungers to increase the economic gain from EU nationals, then hopefully the Tories will have enough of a majority to sort out the shitty legislation we have that hampers non-EU immigration.

It is in the interests of the Conservatives as well, as they tend to be Labour voters, so the Tories could kill off Labour permanently. Perhaps a Lib Dem resurgence if they can cream off the current Labour centrists. They could rebrand themselves as Whigs, go old school.

You cannot possibly suggest it was easier to get a majority for Brexit, than it would have been to restrict non-EU migration.

[Kalis]

They also don't include the figures for being a part of the common market.
And regardless to go back to your prior post:

You cannot possibly suggest it was easier to get a majority for Brexit, than it would have been to restrict non-EU migration.

We have some quite strict financial criteria on non-EU migration that we did not have that previously, but we have the issues with dependents that is fucking everything up. It is a nightmare to get through legislation on it, as the opposition parties will almost all oppose it and Tories in seats that have Asian populations will not want to be seen as supporting measures that might negatively affect their communities. Both of those problems fall away with a larger majority.

A small majority makes it harder to implement policies that are controversial, such is life.

[Deleted]

The Tory plan is smart. Reduce immigration by making the pound worthless and the UK a terrible place to live.

[dribbles]

At least we are lucky in the UK in that we have a fptp proper democracy and a strong stable majority will allow the UK to self determinate immigration policy. Spare a thought for those poor EU Dutch people who despite having an election only a few weeks ago face their government collapsing over precisely this issue and never ending elections every few weeks for eternity.

Having that kind of democracy must really suck.

No wonder many Europeans seek outside rule from Brussels when their own governments fail to provide effective governance through a flawed system.

[Deleted]

We have some quite strict financial criteria on non-EU migration that we did not have that previously, but we have the issues with dependents that is fucking everything up. It is a nightmare to get through legislation on it, as the opposition parties will almost all oppose it and Tories in seats that have Asian populations will not want to be seen as supporting measures that might negatively affect their communities. Both of those problems fall away with a larger majority.

A small majority makes it harder to implement policies that are controversial, such is life.

yes, Brexit, not even remotely controversial.