Really interesting point about EU migrants returning home, hadn’t properly considered that before.epwc wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2024 7:56 amNot possible. Just before the Brexit vote I had an argument with my wife’s cousin, 2 kids in their mid twenties with degrees both sat on their arses doing nothing. He was voting leave cos migrants, I said if our kids were taking those jobs then we wouldn’t need migrants, to which of course he agreed. I then suggested his kids could get jobs as cleaners cos we’d never had white British cleaners at work (in 40 odd years) to which he obviously replied “why should they have to do that”
For the first half of the 20th century the clothing industry in the UK was kept alive by the Jews, for the second half it was Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis, Cypriots. By the 21st century pretty much no second/third generation migrants were working in clothing factories so a lot of the jobs were taken up by EU migrants.
Now the industry is more or less extinct.
The biggest issue here is the end of FOM, EU migrants were much more likely to go home afterwards. So right wing populists properly fucked themselves over, their followers will ensure that the same thing keeps happening.
The kind of policies that some of you are talking about are generational if not multi generational, that does not align with 4-5yearly cycles in a system where politicians working together across party seems to mean shouting at each other.
My example of a policy change would be in the care sector. My dad ended up in a care home for the last stages of Alzheimer’s. There was a constant flow of immigrants who were utterly professional and awesome people - we are still in touch with 2 of them - but without deviation the path was - shit pay, shit conditions in a care home - join the NHS as nurses - shit pay, shit conditions - husband/family arrived - drop out of work - new immigrants come to continue the cycle. All the time the care home group are posting massive profits and the directors are arriving once a month in Jags.
Fine the fuck out of them if they don’t provide pay and conditions that keep staff. Refuse to allow them access to visas if they can’t keep staff
There are something like 250,000 registered nurses in the U.K. not working in the NHS because pay and conditions are awful and they need to be constantly replaced because of this