Paying extra to employ 'foreign' workers

Have you had a massive increase in house building in your area too Merlotgran ? I was recently in Northumberland and was staggered at how many new housing developments had been built since I was last there in September.

We've had two proposed developments turned down here.

Chewbacca. Fullfact is an independent fact checking site, which is why I used it rather than any less reliable source. It was nothing to do with Corbyn who just happened to ask the question which prompted the research.

So, lets look at your figures. We can disregard the first and second paragraphs as we were talking about nation-wide building as I understood it, and these related to some unconnected smaller areas recent building.

So we are left with a 2t% rise in 2014/15 in all homes country wide.

I imagine that was a typo and could be a 25%(?) rise in the year against, presumably from the way it was written, the previous year. As we don't know what was built the previous year or how these figures compare with the highest post-war years it actually doesn't tell us anything useful, sadly.

If we go back to the graph I have reposted - from the reputable fact finding site - you can see very clearly how house building has gone over the years and it has been a steep drop since the late 60s with a very small rise recently. (The graph enlarges if you click on it)

Bloody hell! Do people just make it up or what?

They do Anya, indeed they do and then expect everyone to agree they are right

The boom in house building must be restricted to the Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, NW England and Northumberland areas then. That would account for why "there isn't much house building going on at the moment". And the government website is clearly giving out slanted information that you don't want to accept. Have it your own way.

GracesGranMK2 - I notice that your link shows houses completed to 2015. Here in West Norfolk the number of houses started / planned during the last 18 months must number in the thousands, in a relatively low population area.

Goodness me just check out various independent websites about EU nationals living/ working here. There are nearly 1 million poles followed by the Irish followed byRomanians, mainly coming here after 2006. Most of these are unskilled. We have over 3.2 million EU citizens in the U.K. .Did you know that only 1 million UK citizens live/ work in the EU. If we need to pay more to redress the balance and employ fewer EU citizens to U.K Citizens it's what we need to do.

We apparently require an extra 1,000,000 houses to be built before 2020. Maybe that will allow us to have some apprenticeships in the building, plumbing, electrical and joinery industries for our young school leavers. Although quite where 1,000,000 houses can be built is another matter.

The facts you gave are no doubt correct Chewbacca; please don't infer I said things that I didn't.

The first ones you referenced were just not relevant and did not prove anything to do with what you had claimed - I cannot help poor research on your part.

The one I agreed was relevant - that a "2t% rise in 2014/15 in all homes country wide" says only that. This reference agrees with the graph in that there was an all time low in 2010 (other than the immediate post war years) and there has been a rise since then - a rise ON THAT all time low.

You are right dayvid, it does only go to 2015. However, what Chewbacca so confidently told me I was wrong about and, equally confidently said had happened as if it was a fact, would show on the graph as equal to the point to point from 1947/48 to 1951/52 starting at 2012/03 to 2016/17 and, with the best will in the world I cannot see that happening when the figures are updated. As it was Chewbacca who said I was wrong it is for him/her to prove not me and nothing he/she has referenced so far has done that - far from it his/her figure just confirms what I said and what the graph shows.

Dare I say re the original question stop the political bias and just read the C manifesto . It says "we will make it a priority in our negotiations that the 140k EU staff can carry on their vital contribution to our health and care system "(NHS). On p 20 it says skilled immigration should not be a way for gov or business to avoid the obligation to improve the skills of the British people....so we will DOUBLEthe Immigration skills charge levied on companies employing migrant workers to 2K a year by the END of the Parliament.....using the revenue to invest in skills training n the U.K.....are we really complaining about this?

Sorry but I think that won't work the way you think it will.

We had a similar situation here in Germany with polish staff / employers. They were only allowed to stay at a time After that period they had to leave the Country which they did.

Many of them took the train for the return and they crossed the border till the next station were they were expecting the next train fo return to their destination here in Germany and for another 3month stay.
That has worked well for many years.

Listening to the farming programme this morning.

It is clear that an enormous amount of work and money will have to go into farming unless we are prepared to import our food.

Not at all clear how the seasonal crops are going to be picked.

And how jefm are we going to produce young people with the skill sets we need when the education budget is being slashed?

Am guessing all those who doubt massive house building live in the North!
However, it will be heading their way pretty soon I should think, then they can see it with their own two eyes.

Has anybody noticed that the Tories have promised more for the NHS than Labour have?

Nothing to do with where I live RAR but rather more to do with checking out the facts.

We have a lot of building going on round here too. We equally have a lot of tall men (for some reason) but I have been carefully taught not to assume so I don't believe that means this country is completely full of men over 6ft.

It is really sloppy thinking to do that. Of course, the building you see may donate an upturn in building overall but better to check - opinions without facts will make a fool of the person using them.

You were given the facts by Chewbacca up the page but decided you didn't like them.There is an upturn in house building overall.

I did not decide I didn't LIKE them RAR, that would be pointless in any discussion and rather more your way of arguing than mine. What I pointed out was they were not relevant to his/her claim.

Poor and irrelevant data for something Chewbacca declared was a truth is still not my problem any more than it was when I said this before. I am quite happy for you to show that the data were relevant. What I am not prepared to do is agree that Chewbacca is a god and must be agreed with even when he/she is making huge claims that are wrong.

There is indeed an upturn in house building - I have never denied that - but it is not of the extreme level Chewbacca and now, it appears, you, are claiming.

Prove it RAR and I will happily apologise but otherwise you are just behaving in the way we have come to expect and stirring up something that is long over as far as I am concerned.

"Q. Based on your latest statistics, are we on track to build one million homes by 2020?

NHBC does not forecast the number of homes being built, however our data out today shows that growth has continued in 2015. There was a 7% increase in the number of new homes registered on the year before. The numbers are clearly heading in the right direction.

Q. How do these numbers compare to previous years? Is housing still a political priority for the Government?

The figures show we registered 75% more new homes in 2015 than we did at the time of the housing crash in 2009 – the lowest point for the industry in recent years. In addition the 2015 figure of total new homes registered stands at 156,000, a continued increase on the 146,000 in 2014.

I think housing is still a top priority for the Government. Both the Conservatives and Labour prioritised housing in their election manifestos, and after forming a majority Government, the Prime Minister has made a number of key announcements - in fact the first announcement he made on the first Monday in 2016 was about new housing policies to support the industry.

Q. Is the growth we are seeing balanced across all sectors and all regions of the UK?

Yes we are seeing growth across the UK with 9 out of 12 regions having more homes registered in 2015 compared to the previous year. For example, the North West had 16% growth, Scotland had 15% and in London over the last three years, on average 27,000 homes were built each year - 80% higher than the average number of annual homes built per year over the previous 26 years".

Source: www.politicshome.com

But I have no doubt that this will also be trashed as inadmissible, despite the fact that vast areas that of the UK have seen a huge increase in house building. I still believe that, with the huge increase in house building, it should now be easier for young people to access and apprenticeship in the building industry trades.

GGM2 your posts are as ridiculous and pompous as ever.

I am sure it is all true Chewbacca but where does it say or show:
We're currently going through the biggest property building programme since the 2nd world war!

That building programme was from 1947/48 to 1951/52 and nothing in your figures says that.

This is all getting very boring now. I have stuck with this it as factually and politely as I can. I think we’ve reached the end of this conversation.

Roses do help me understand why you think that was an appropriate thing to say – and why you think I should answer you.

Yes it is getting boring, and yes, we have reached the end of this conversation.