Doubtless nudged by his PR advisor Lynton Crosby, David Cameron has woken up, yawned, stretched – and made some sleepy noises about what he thinks people would like him to do about the coming influx of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants into Britain : a floodtide which is set to be loosed on us in just five weeks’ time, when the last restrictions on them are removed.
In an article in that EU house journal the Financial Times (£), Dave flexes his muscles and like King Lear promises ‘to do such things – what they are yet I know not – but they shall be the terrors of the earth’. His alleged wish list includes:
> Imposing a three month waiting period before new arrivals from the EU can claim British benefits.
> A sort of Means Test to see if the newcomers can get employment – and if so, how much they are likely to earn.
> Deporting new arrivals found to be begging or sleeping rough. (But they will still be let back in later).
> Building support in the EU to curb the limitless freedom of its citizens to settle in other EU states.
As per usual with Mr Cameron, there are problems with these headline grabbing initiatives. I’ll list some of them.
> Under current EU rules, even mild curbs like these are probably illegal. So they won’t happen.
> Cameron does not state when he will try bringing such curbs into law, which, judging by ‘Cast Iron Dave’s’ past performances, means they never will be. Once a liar, always a liar.
> In the unlikely event of them being brought in, they will be thrown out by the courts who are subject to EU Law.
> Cameron has known about the coming influx for more than a year – it was a major feature of UKIPs by-election success at Eastleigh in February : why then has he left it to the last minute to pretend to do something?
> As any recent visitor to London knows, Balkan migrants are already here in their thousands – many begging and sleeping rough. If Cameron is so concerned about this, why has he not acted before now?
The sad truth is this: David Cameron and his predecessors as Prime Ministers from both Labour and Conservative parties have steadily surrendered the supremacy of our freely elected Parliament to an unelected foreign body: the European Union.
This erosion of power has now reached such a stage that we are impotent to guard our own borders and powerless to defend our sovereignty or our country. Under our present rulers, we can – as Cameron admits – do nothing but pretend to tinker uselessly with the EU-imposed invasion. Cameron may claim to be shutting the stable door, but the horse has long gone.
Cameron’s weak-kneed and unconvincing performance reminds me of the caustic writer Katherine Mansfield’s description of E.M.Forster’s feeble fiction: ‘It’s not good enough. E.M.Forster never gets any further than warming the teapot. He’s a rare fine hand at that. Feel this teapot. Is it not beautifully warm? Yes, but there ain’t going to be no tea’.
So it goes with the words that Lynton Crosby has forced into David Cameron’s mouth: he doesn’t mean them, and he cannot carry them out. The only reason that he is saying them now is because popular alarm over immigration, and the effects it is already having on our society, and our health, education, transport and crime – is already adversely affecting his own diminishing chances of returning to power in 2015. As the only party to have sounded the alarm bells over EU-imposed immigration, it is to UKIP that a thoroughly betrayed British people are turning.
A new Survation poll in one area of Kent in the immigration front line – the Thanet seat of Euro-fanatic Camerloon Tory MP Laura Sandys,- reveals that UKIP is on 30%, pushing the Tories, as at Eastleigh, into third place. No wonder Ms Sandys has just announced that she is standing down in 2015. Increasingly, it is the Tories who are splitting the anti-Labour vote and threatening to propel Ed Miliband into Downing Street. Vote Dave: get Ed. Vote UKIP – get UKIP.
Unless the immigrants are stopped at the border it is all so meaningless. Removing people when they are already in the UK is expensive and extremely difficult, if not virtually impossible. Lawyers will be rubbing their hands.
Cameron has an unfortunate knack of failing to reconcile competing influences in the Coalition. He is trying to appear tough on immigration, but in reality he cannot do much. Whilst at the same time, his modest proposal for immigration disincentives is alarming the LibDems and the EU.
László Andor, the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, has responded by branding Britain “‘…hysterical’ over immigration and risks becoming the ‘nasty’ country of Europe…”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10477686/Britain-is-hysterical-over-immigration-and-risks-becoming-the-nasty-country-of-Europe-EU-commissioner-says.html
If Cameron had the necessary political and moral strength to lead the country he would have carpeted the EU Commissioner by now, for his insulting remarks towards Britain. Unfortunately for us, such weakness has been exploited too often by the EU.
Cameron doing what he doe’s best,nothing.
Its hard to believe that the so called euro sceptics in the Conservative party can just sit on their hands with their mouths firmly shut and wait like the rest of us for the January sales stampede,sickening.
There are very few real eurosceptics in the tory party. The Conservatives have always been pro-EU. The sooner people realise that and join UKIP, the better.