DC's speech on Immigration

Prime Minister David Cameron is due to make a speech this morning which will outline how he plans to cut net migration from the European Union and to deliver the control that British people want.

 

The Prime Minister will set out a package of measures that will remove the financial incentives that attract migrants to Britain. The reforms will mean that in future:

 

EU workers will:

·         not get in work benefits until they have been in the UK for 4 years;

·         not get social housing until they have been here for 4 years; and

·         not get child benefits and tax credits for children living elsewhere in Europe no matter how long they have paid taxes in the UK.

 

EU jobseekers will:

·         not be supported by UK taxpayers; and 

·         be removed if they are not in a job within six months.

·         Together with other measures, this will deliver the toughest system on welfare for EU migrants anywhere in Europe.

 

These reforms will return free movement to a more sensible basis – the position before a European Court judgement in 1991 when Member States had the right to expect workers to have a job offer before they arrived - and a return to rules put in place by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

 

The Prime Minister will make clear that securing changes to welfare in order to cut EU migration will be an absolute requirement in the renegotiation.

 

And he will reiterate his determination to secure reform and his expectation that Britain will succeed in this renegotiation but he will be clear that if the concerns of the British public fall on deaf ears then he rules nothing out.

 

The proposals to be set out by the Prime Minister today will also include:

 

·         Abolishing the system where EU migrants can bring family members from outside the EU without any restrictions.

·         Tougher and longer re-entry bans for rough sleepers, beggars and fraudsters.

·         Stronger arrangements for deporting EU criminals and stopping them coming back.

·         No access to labour market for nationals of new Member States joining the EU until their economies have converged more closely with current members.

The Prime Minister will say that these changes should apply to the whole of the EU, but should that not prove possible, he would negotiate them in a UK-only settlement.

 

In his speech, the Prime Minister will say:

 

“People have understandably become frustrated. It boils down to one word: control.

People want Government to have control over the numbers of people coming here and the circumstances in which they come, both from around the world and from within the European Union…And yet in recent years, it has become clear that successive Governments have lacked control. People want grip. I get that…They don’t want limitless immigration and they don’t want no immigration. They want controlled immigration. And they are right.

 

“Britain supports the principle of freedom of movement of workers. Accepting the principle of free movement of workers is a key to being part of the single market. So we do not want to destroy that principle or turn it on its head. But freedom of movement has never been an unqualified right, and we now need to allow it to operate on a more sustainable basis in the light of the experience of recent years.

 

“My objective is simple: to make our immigration system fairer and reduce the current exceptionally high level of migration from within the EU into the UK.

 

“We intend to cut migration from within Europe by dealing with abuse; restricting the ability of migrants to stay here without a job; and reducing the incentives for lower paid, lower skilled workers to come here in the first place.

 

“We want to create the toughest system in the EU for dealing with abuse of free movement. We want EU jobseekers to have a job offer before they come here and to stop UK taxpayers having to support them if they don’t…EU jobseekers who don’t pay in will no longer get anything out. And those who do come will no longer be able to stay if they can’t find work.

 

“The British people need to know that changes to welfare to cut EU migration will be an absolute requirement in the renegotiation.

 

“I say to our European partners. We have real concerns. Our concerns are not outlandish or unreasonable. We deserve to be heard, and we must be heard. Here is an issue which matters to the British people, and to our future in the European Union. The British people will not understand – frankly I will not understand - if a sensible way through cannot be found, which will help settle this country’s place in the EU once and for all.

 

“And to the British people I say this. If you elect me as Prime Minister in May, I will negotiate to reform the European Union, and Britain’s relationship with it. This issue of free movement will be a key part of that negotiation. If I succeed, I will, as I have said, campaign to keep this country in a reformed EU. If our concerns fall on deaf ears and we cannot put our relationship with the EU on a better footing, then of course I rule nothing out. But I am confident that, with goodwill and understanding, we can and will succeed.”