Stronger United-Stronger UK@United Europe: Remain & Transform!

The Rampant Politics of Fear

The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a respected foreign policy expert and long-serving US Senator once famously stated that “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not to his own facts”. Today the facts are clear: European migrants to the UK pay far more in taxes to Britain than they receive in state benefits.

A 2014 study on this issue has shown that European migrants made a net contribution of £20 billion to the UK public finances between 2000 and 2011. In addition those who arrive to the UK are predominantly young and extraordinarily well educated, with qualifications higher than those to any other country. The report stated that the UK would have to spend £6.8 billion on education to build up the same level of human capital. These EU ‘economic migrants’ are not only more highly educated than our average workforce but also less likely to be in receipt of state benefits or to live in social housing. This data appeared in the Fiscal effect of immigration to the UK published in the Economic Journal of 2014.

 

It is therefore clear and unambiguous that the entire immigration rhetoric hyped up by supporters of UKIP and the Eurosceptic wing of the Tory party is based on pure misrepresentation of the facts and a deliberate attempt to create among us in the UK a feeling of anger and resentment against fellow European citizens who come to Britain in search for better opportunities and who contribute significantly to British economic, social, and cultural development.