Friday, June 02, 2017
Tory chaos on immigration
As I listened to a local hustings discussion on the subject last night it occurred to me that the only way Theresa May is going to achieve her aim of getting net immigration down below 100,000 is if she institutes a socialist planned economy, something that is not very likely.
This Tory pledge is one of the more bizarre of this election. It is bizarre not just because it is largely unattainable, or because it will badly damage our economy but also because the Tories have failed twice to come anywhere near achieving it and have no plan as to how they will do so on the third attempt.
Theresa May mouths platitudes about how leaving the EU will give us control over our own borders, but the fact is that half of immigrants coming into the UK are arriving from countries outside the EU. If, as promised the Government are going to negotiate free trade deals with countries not in the EU, then that will inevitably involve freedom of movement. And nobody appears to have thought through how we are going to fill the skills gap, not least in the health service.
It seems that these doubts are not just limited to me, but that the Tories themselves are split on the subject. As the Guardian reports, even David Davis, the Brexit Secretary thinks that the Tories may not hit their 100,000 target.
The real coalition of chaos is within the Conservative Party. They really don't appear to care. They will promise anything to get re-elected even if it is not achieveable. Their manifesto is uncosted and what policies they do have will hit the poorest in our society hardest. Theresa May does not deserve her current standing in the polls and she certainly does not deserve to be put back in Number 10.
This Tory pledge is one of the more bizarre of this election. It is bizarre not just because it is largely unattainable, or because it will badly damage our economy but also because the Tories have failed twice to come anywhere near achieving it and have no plan as to how they will do so on the third attempt.
Theresa May mouths platitudes about how leaving the EU will give us control over our own borders, but the fact is that half of immigrants coming into the UK are arriving from countries outside the EU. If, as promised the Government are going to negotiate free trade deals with countries not in the EU, then that will inevitably involve freedom of movement. And nobody appears to have thought through how we are going to fill the skills gap, not least in the health service.
It seems that these doubts are not just limited to me, but that the Tories themselves are split on the subject. As the Guardian reports, even David Davis, the Brexit Secretary thinks that the Tories may not hit their 100,000 target.
The real coalition of chaos is within the Conservative Party. They really don't appear to care. They will promise anything to get re-elected even if it is not achieveable. Their manifesto is uncosted and what policies they do have will hit the poorest in our society hardest. Theresa May does not deserve her current standing in the polls and she certainly does not deserve to be put back in Number 10.
