The shame of Austerity Britain

nicenanny (misnomer!) do you actually read/understand any posts that aren't in line with your very narrow thoughts?

Immigrants from the EU contribute considerably more than they cost.

According to a 2016 study by University College London, immigrants who arrived from the EU after 2000 contributed £1.34 to the U.K. economy for every £1 they took out.
The study analyzed data from 2001 to 2011, looking at the difference between taxes and other contributions migrants make to public finances, and the costs of the services and public benefits they receive, such as free healthcare and tax credits.

Lyndie it certainly is a myth. They all need housing so cause rents to rise and a shortage of affordable homes. They all need a doctor hence long waiting time to see your GP. Hospital bed if they are ill. School places for their children leading to over crowded class rooms. So no the amount they have paid in taxes (some are receiving top up benefits) does not cover this.

£24 billion a year is spent on housing benefit. That could build a lot of social housing.

The most recent data showed that Conservative ministers have completely stopped funding new social housing, which is 30-40 per cent cheaper than affordable housing

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/affordable-housing-spending-private-tory-government-a7945616.html

Have you seen the figures Lyndie -

You’re quite right mcem. Lots of “I’m alright Jack” here. There but for fortune .....

Some private landlords are very good to their tenants but others are diabolical - I so agree about the high price of rents for families to find. Can the tenants all claim housing benefit? It would be interesting to see what percentage of tenants are claiming so we could see how many landlords are in fact being paid by the tax payers.

It’s a myth immigrants contribute far more than they take for ordinary people. They make the wealthier more wealthy. It’s not trickling down. Every time another immigrant arrives the rest of the ordinary people have to move over and the pie shrinks.

endre123:
This week we have seen an increasing number of desperate people saying their rents have gone up by around 16%. These situations are driving people to suicide, greedy landlords are allowed to make families homeless. They clearly cannot get replacement homes that keep the family together. There is no social housing. Some private landlords just do not realise what it's like to budget for a family and will take every penny the tenant earns and not allow for food. It is true some landlords believe food banks are there for their tenants!

I so agree endre. Families need a secure home. Having to move whenever short-term tenancies end also means the children have to constantly move school. That’s not a good start in life.
It’s very worrying if landlords believe that tenants should use foodbanks so that they can put their rents up.
More social housing seems an impossible dream until local authorities are allowed to build themselves, rather than rely on developers including a few affordable/social homes in their developments.

What a ghastly selfish set of posts!
Threads like this really make me want to quit GN as I simply don't choose to associate, however remotely, with the nasty self-centred views expressed by some here.
I have really appreciated the GN support I 've had since my accident and seeing NHS Scotland in close-up at the moment proves I did the right thing in supporting the Holyrood government's move to raise taxes in Scotland for 2018/19.
But then I would say that, wouldn't I?
My disabled daughter relies on benefits and family to keep her going (along with her 2 wee ones ) so just write off my family as scroungers and get on with your appallingly egocentric and narrow-minded lives.
Or perhaps stop and think for a moment before indulging in such condemnation?

Strangely the immigrants contribute far more to the U.K. economy than they take out - has been like that for a number of years.
Contrary to what many believe the immigrants move to obtain better paid jobs - sometimes to return home having saved money for the family, and sometimes they spend it in U.K. They have come from poorer conditions and therefore their expectations are less than many U.K. people who by comparison have a ‘softer’ life.

I agree with GabriellaG, char boy and peaceblossom. Cut overseas aid, charge drunks if they land in A&E for their treatment. Why should higher earners (I'm not one of them) pay higher tax they pay enough already. Too many EU migrants in the UK, 400,000 Romanians and counting, I'm sure they take out more than they contribute.

I also think we need to teach secondary age children basic cooking skills and food/ calorie values.

The average person pays their taxes but we have a huge problem with our richest hiding most of the tax they should be paying and small businessmen not declaring vat. If the Treasury collected all the tax owed there would be no problem with funding the NHS and other pubic services. We have a problem with OAPs hiding their property and savings with relatives as they retire and claiming free social care worth hundreds of thousands when they need it. All these people are crooks and the rest of us have to suffer because they have found a way around the system.

Charjoy" How many of those going to foodbanks are genuine?
How many go to takeaways each week rather than buy a pound of mince etc ?
Take out Fish and chips and pizzas etc are a luxury when you consider what they charge.
Perhaps we need a bit more education on how to manage."

The people living like this are not the poor. Maybe a few yeas ago they could afford these luxuries but this is Tory propaganda. People who go to food banks are REFERRED by GPs, social workers or the DWP. They have to show proof they are in desperate need, then they cannot have a donation regularly, they just go hungry.

We need more education to ensure people don't fall for extreme political propaganda to deliberately avoid taking responsibility for those less fortunate than us. That is the road down to becoming uncivilised. I'm afraid this country is going that way and those at the top are wrecking everything we have always valued like the NHS, education, police, social care and all through repeating hatred towards those less fortunate

We have not been told where the Government is spending our money to accrue so much debt. Certainly not on public services. There are huge amounts spent on personal staff, first class travel, stately home grants and entertaining. But Government debt is running out of control. They are desperate to keep the details of the spending away from the public.
It is very wrong that an increasing number of people are needing food banks and most are hard working families. The government has tried to say they need austerity to make people find jobs. But these jobs pay a pittance and some families need three or four jobs to try and make ends meet then still find they need help from a food bank,
This week we have seen an increasing number of desperate people saying their rents have gone up by around 16%. These situations are driving people to suicide, greedy landlords are allowed to make families homeless. They clearly cannot get replacement homes that keep the family together. There is no social housing. Some private landlords just do not realise what it's like to budget for a family and will take every penny the tenant earns and not allow for food. It is true some landlords believe food banks are there for their tenants! We saw a TV programme that showed a private landlord shocked when he found out his tenant had about £52 a week left over after rent, utilities and was "wasting" it on food and clothes for his family of four. He was about to increase the rent when someone told him food banks are for absolute emergencies, the family would go very hungry if he raised rent or would have to become homeless. The family concerned were professionals, the rent already a silly figure for a sub standard accommodation. Private landlords are the huge problem in this country. If people have real homes to bring up their children as they did when there was adequate social housing we have less poverty, more stability in society and they take pride in their environment. This Government use food banks as part of their policy which is very wrong, in fact it is outrageous and they get away with it by the constant shaming of the most vulnerable in society

Yes I agree with you on that lyndie. More privatisation of the NHS by the back door.
Britain could afford a properly funded health service without giving money and profits to private companies if the Government chose. It’s a political choice.

Of course many MPs have interests in private healthcare companies. 64 MPs listed below.

defendournhsyork.wordpress.com/2017/02/14/selling-off-nhs-for-profit-full-list-of-mps-with-links-to-private-healthcare-firms/

Throwing this out there. Our local hospital has outsourced discharging of the elderly to care homes. To a company with shareholders who pay minimum wage. Is this the way to go. Doesn’t it cost more in the end. It seems to be happening in all sectors.

It’s scary we can’t feed ourselves and building on farmland
It's a two-way thing - we export as well as import food and drink (although we do import more).
Nearly 60% of land in the UK is farmland (not all used productively) and less than 6% is built on (not just homes).

You're right welshwife. We need more high quality training schemes here. We shouldn't rely on poaching qualified people from poorer countries.

To do things for ourselves we need people to be trained and people to be willing to do unpopular jobs. Over the years Govts have allowed businesses to go by the board until whole industries have been decimated. Also lots of training and apprentice style jobs have been axed. It will take years to redress this situation.
More people are leaving the U.K. now and less people are coming in so the problem you are worried about might be soon sorted but by the same token you will not have the people to do the necessary work needed.

It’s no good us spending on imports. Part of the pie is given to other countries. We seem to be addicted to importing. We need to do stuff for ourselves. It’s scary we can’t feed ourselves and building on farmland. We are so overpopulated and there are people who say we need more to care for the elderly and pay for them but if we had a high wage country we wouldn’t need so many people. The extra now will need to be looked after by even more people when will it stop.

It makes more sense if we see foreign aid and other spending as a percentage of GPD. Govt money is at incomprehensible levels for most of us so that a percentage makes more sense. Some of these percentages are amazingly small - a drop in the ocean in the great scheme of things.

Iam64 Effective opposition? You don't mean communist Corbyn do you? I sincerely hope not. There are no political parties at the moment that inspire me to vote for them. We have far too many people living on a small island and we can't keep importing them and giving them housing, medical care, and benefits. Stop foreign aid. Charity begins at home.

LBC broadcaster Nick Ferrari spoke for millions when he said: “I salute the Daily Express campaign (stop foreign aid petition).

“At a time that we are looking at putting hospital patients in B&Bs and having whip-rounds to pay for books in schools I find it wholly unacceptable this amount of cash can be lavished on projects that have little merit or reward for the taxpayers who have funded them.”

Official data shows 26 per cent of the total spent on foreign aid is not controlled by DFID with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, now headed by Tory MP Greg Clark, splurging £687 million last year.

Nick Ferrari said he salutes the Daily Express campaign

The Home Office sent £362 million abroad, the Treasury committed £71 million on overseas aid, the Department of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs spent £67 million and even HMRC managed to commit £9 million - £4 million more than the Ministry of Defence.

Foreign aid is meant to be spent on “strengthening global peace, security and governance” and “tackling extreme poverty and helping the world’s most vulnerable”.

I can see how that can work - we just need to do that and get people to spend again,