Unlike last year, when 1st January saw an end to months of incessant rain, it has been a thoroughly wet and miserable start to 2014 on the weather front, and pretty miserable in another way - the end of the residence restrictions for Romanians and Bulgarians. How many people from these countries will turn up in Britain over the coming months we cannot say, but one thing is for sure - many people would be quite happy to see them all sent back.
Immigration has gradually risen to the No. 1 concern for many voters in the last few years, and understandably so, considering the scale of the influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Opinion polls paint a pretty stark picture:- An Ipsos Mori poll commissioned while Labour were in power found that 49% of people believed that immigrants – and not just illegal immigrants - should be encouraged to return to their country of origin. A poll for Sky News in October 2013 suggests opinions have hardened further since then. It found more than two thirds of the British public believe the UK population is too large, while the same percentage (67%) of those questioned said the Coalition's attempt to reduce net migration to 100,000 a year was not sufficient and that more should be done.
Of course, nothing can be done about restricting immigration on a permanent basis, let alone sending back the hunderds and thousands of Eastern European already over here as long as we are members of the EU. Free movement of people is one of the four "freedoms" of the EU's single market. David Cameron - probably more because of pressure from his own backbenchers than out of any real desire for change - threaterned to veto future EU enlargement unless the free movment principle was revisited. However, his stance has won him few allies among other EU leaders. This is unsurprising as, for Eastern European leaders, it conveys the impression that they are second-class members of the EU, which they naturally resent.
But the immigration issue is not going away. It's not just the UK which is seeing growing hostily to the free movment of peoples. the Front National in France and Geert Wilders' party in the Netherlands are more known for their hostility to immigration from Moslem countries than for opposition to the EU's free movment principle, but they are tapping into widespread and growing hostility to mass immigration in their respective countries.
Where should one stand as a Christian in all this? One reason for the lack of posts to this blog in recent months is that I have been working to complete a book giving 10 top reasons why we should leave the EU. One chapter - and indeed the longest - is on immigration, and although the book is not aimed particularly at a Christian market, I have not expressed any sentiment which I would not, as a Christian, be prepared to defend. Suffice it to say, it takes a tough line on immigration for no other reason than if we don't. the consequences are quite fearful. Anyway, readers wishing to know more about my answer to this question can read the book when it comes out leter in the year (Rest assured, I'll give it a good plug here!)
However, if there is one encouragement to take away from this miserable 1st January, it is that each arrival from Romania or Bulgaria takes us one step closer to an "out" vote and the restoration of our freedoms.
Happy New Year
Immigration has gradually risen to the No. 1 concern for many voters in the last few years, and understandably so, considering the scale of the influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Opinion polls paint a pretty stark picture:- An Ipsos Mori poll commissioned while Labour were in power found that 49% of people believed that immigrants – and not just illegal immigrants - should be encouraged to return to their country of origin. A poll for Sky News in October 2013 suggests opinions have hardened further since then. It found more than two thirds of the British public believe the UK population is too large, while the same percentage (67%) of those questioned said the Coalition's attempt to reduce net migration to 100,000 a year was not sufficient and that more should be done.
Of course, nothing can be done about restricting immigration on a permanent basis, let alone sending back the hunderds and thousands of Eastern European already over here as long as we are members of the EU. Free movement of people is one of the four "freedoms" of the EU's single market. David Cameron - probably more because of pressure from his own backbenchers than out of any real desire for change - threaterned to veto future EU enlargement unless the free movment principle was revisited. However, his stance has won him few allies among other EU leaders. This is unsurprising as, for Eastern European leaders, it conveys the impression that they are second-class members of the EU, which they naturally resent.
But the immigration issue is not going away. It's not just the UK which is seeing growing hostily to the free movment of peoples. the Front National in France and Geert Wilders' party in the Netherlands are more known for their hostility to immigration from Moslem countries than for opposition to the EU's free movment principle, but they are tapping into widespread and growing hostility to mass immigration in their respective countries.
Where should one stand as a Christian in all this? One reason for the lack of posts to this blog in recent months is that I have been working to complete a book giving 10 top reasons why we should leave the EU. One chapter - and indeed the longest - is on immigration, and although the book is not aimed particularly at a Christian market, I have not expressed any sentiment which I would not, as a Christian, be prepared to defend. Suffice it to say, it takes a tough line on immigration for no other reason than if we don't. the consequences are quite fearful. Anyway, readers wishing to know more about my answer to this question can read the book when it comes out leter in the year (Rest assured, I'll give it a good plug here!)
However, if there is one encouragement to take away from this miserable 1st January, it is that each arrival from Romania or Bulgaria takes us one step closer to an "out" vote and the restoration of our freedoms.
Happy New Year