Thought I'd start a new thread as this is going to be a major talking point this year...have not made up my mind yet...(unlike bucksfizz)....but thinking of voting for an exit as Europe is not doing Britain any good at all it seems....

Oh, and here's another snippet...

The eurozone unemployment rate dropped to 7.9 per cent in November 2018, the lowest rate since 2008. Job vacancy rates are at their highest since 2009 and eurozone households have been able to save more of their income.

The European Commission has admitted that the Euro is ‘increasing unemployment and social hardship’.

According to figures from Europa.EU, in 2016, 118.0 million people in the EU lived in households at risk of poverty or social exclusion; 23.5 % of the population.

According to a study by the German Bertelsmann Foundation, about 26 million children and young people in the EU are at risk of poverty.


I don't disagree that the Italian public is firmly behind it's government, but that government is Eurosceptic.

What use are figures from 2016? It's 2019 now.

Yes of course they are a bit adrift and no doubt the millions of immigrants since will have improved their position immensely, NOT.

You mean the immigrants that are all headed to Britain?

Unlike many I am happy to accept there will be continued immigration, the problem arises when the UK is flooded (as per Blair gov) without sufficient improvements in services and employment to cope with a mass influx.

Well you need to be taking things like infrastructure investment up with your own government then. It's hardly the EU's fault, is it?

Why don't you suggest they build a detention centre for illegals in some bleak, depressing place like Cornwall, and stop giving out free houses and cash to anyone that lands on your shores and asks for it? Take away the reasons for them wanting to come, and they'll stop coming.

The funny thing is, I thought the Home Secretary of Cameron's government was going to tackle those issues back in 2010. I can't think of her name now....

Cornwall depressing ha! ha! that's funny.

Sorry, typo. I meant Wales.

:o)

George you really need to get out of Cornwall a bit, when was the last time you left it and bothered to talk to anyone?

stop giving out free houses and cash to anyone that lands on your shores and asks for it?

i could well be wrong, but i have more than a feeling that brussels forbids discrimination in such matters

I don't know how many times I've got to say this, Cyners, but the law is such that EU citizens must be treated in exactly the same way as UK citizens.

So, you change UK law such that you don't get any benefits until you've held a NI number for 5 years. It's really not rocket science.

i concur, but changing the law is not only very protracted but would also be seriously challenged on a number of grounds

A bit like exiting the EU then.

If the government were serious about limiting immigration, however, they would have done it by now. Instead, they've come up with some ridiculous scheme to limit immigration to those earning above £30k post-Brexit. I thought the NHS needed nurses??!!??

certainly that £30k minimum is preposterous

however, changing the law to suit on benefits sounds a good idea but would never have got past various bits of brussels legislation and legislature

Nonsense! It's got nothing whatsoever to do with Brussels, the UK parliament has retained its sovereignty so can do those things without recourse, and what's Universal Credit if it isn't a major shake up / replacement of the UK benefits system instigated by the Conservative-led administration.

Hils , you keep bringing up time and time again how easy it would have been to change laws to sort out immigration from the EU when the simple truth is it would not have been allowed by the EU.

Your NI idea for instance , what a load of rubbish. Why not , unless you went to school here for 5 years or you were actually born here !

That NI idea would never pass EU regulations.

I challenge you to tell me which EU regulation it would fail to pass, Dilbert. I don't expect you to come back any time soon, however, because the simple fact is that there aren't any.

The French social security system, for instance, is such that they don't give out any benefits to people who haven't been contributing to the system for a minimum period of time.

PS. I don't understand what you're trying to say in the second paragraph above (Why not , unless you went to school here for 5 years or you were actually born here !).

hilary - because any change in the law would be seen as akin to "tax evasion" - eg post event enactment

That's bollocks, Cyners. The UK can already do pretty much what they want legally - it's just that they choose not to.

European Commission v United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Regulation (EC) No 883/2004) Case C-308/14