UK FACES NEW PENSION CRISIS
Experts blame soaring cost of EU migration
MASS EU migration has been an economic catastrophe for Britain, says a new report.
It costs us £30billion a year and poses a threat to the state pension, warns think tank Global Britain.
Taxpayers are subsidising low-paid jobs for foreign workers, who do not pay enough into the Treasury to fund the pensions and benefits they receive.
The report’s author Bob Lyddon, a leading City analyst, says the annual net cost of Britain’s three million EU migrants is £31.5billion, based on official figures which show that the Government spends £10,500 per head.
Only two million of them work, contributing £500 each in tax on average, a total of just £1billion a year.
This includes negligible levels of National Insurance contributions, which underpin the state pension. Mr
Lyddon also says that an EU rule allowing international corporations to avoid paying tax in the UK, combined with freedom of movement, means multinationals can flood the UK with cheap foreign labour but avoid paying tax.
He described the situation as “an economic catastrophe”. Mr Lyddon added: “It is a common misconception that our pensions and benefits are financed from a pool established by past taxes and NI contributions, when today’s pensioners and other benefit recipients are actually funded out of current taxes and public borrowing.”
It was “once true” that migrants helped fund the state pension pot, but Mr Lyddon warned that “the relationship has changed”.
He said: “This is due to the low levels of tax and NI contributions from lowpaid migrants. Instead of contributing to the funding of pensions and benefits, their contributions will not be enough to fund what they are drawing down in public services and benefits now, and the UK’s liabilities for future pensions will grow rather than shrink.
“Brexit provides a perfect opportunity to both put a stop to the business models that drain money out of the UK into other EU member states, and to introduce a migrant worker regime that works for the country as a whole and not just for the employer and employee.”
The report suggests that leaving the EU will provide the UK with “a £250billion opportunity” in the next five years. Mr Lyddon said: “A £30billion annual cost is just under half the annual public spending deficit of £68.2billion. Add the lost taxes due to EU ‘tax-efficient’ business models and our EU cash contribution – each £10billion per annum – and we have £50billion per annum as a potential saving.
“There is a £250billion opportunity over the next five years. What it needs is determination and leadership by the British Government to grasp it.”
Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, a member of the Commons Brexit committee, said: “This £30billion figure is higher than I expected but it does not surprise me. It is the flip side of raising the income tax threshold because it means that the tax paid by EU migrants in lowpaid jobs is very small or non-existent.
“We still have to pay all the benefits they are entitled too such as child benefit or housing benefit.”
Ukip spokesman John Bickley said: “This damning report blows apart the myth perpetuated by the established parties that EU migration benefits the UK economy. Uncontrolled cheap labour benefits big business at the expense of landing ordinary taxpayers with a whopping and unsustainable pensions bill.”
ANEW study says that EU migration has been an “economic catastrophe” for the UK costing us about £30billion a year. That large companies have benefited from our open borders while ordinary people have suffered hardly comes as a revelation but we can be grateful to think tank Global Britain for calculating this important statistic.
For years this newspaper has been warning of the dangers of unfettered immigration. We have documented how it has devastated public services, overwhelmed housing stocks and caused chaos on our transport systems. It has grown increasingly obvious too that cheap labour leads to downward pressure on wages and makes it harder for British workers to earn a living.
All this seemed to pass by the establishment elites who run this country. Business owners were happy with a never-ending supply of cheap labour. So too were the wealthy metropolitan types who found it delightful to be able to hire a Lithuanian nanny or a Polish builder. They did not care that British workingclass communities were struggling.
Even after the referendum they have continued to argue that immigration should continue apace. Hopefully new research such as that in this report will finally make them realise that this is not a problem that can be brushed under the carpet.
In Theresa May we have a Prime Minister who has shown that she is dedicated to standing up for British interests by winning back border controls from Brussels. This report only confirms the wisdom of her chosen course and the importance of ignoring those who still agitate for open borders.