STRAIGHT TALKING British public conned over shock immigration figures

FROM UKIP’S DEPUTY LEADER

THE latest figures on National Insurance numbers being issued to EU migrants were released, prompting accusations of ‘terrible dishonesty’ by the Prime Minister’s former Etonian chum, now political rival, Boris Johnson.

These new figures show that while immigration from other EU countries over the past five years stands at 990,000 people, National Insurance numbers – what you need in order to legally work and claim benefits in the UK – have been handed out to more than 2.2 million EU nationals.

It seems obvious that this Government has deliberately been misleading the public yet again on immigration, hiding 1.2 million supposedly shortterm migrants from official figures as it struggles to get anywhere near its target of reducing net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’.

It comes as no surprise that David Cameron was so desperate for these figures to stay hidden under the radar for another six weeks.

He is desperate for the British people to vote to stay inside the European Union next month, as he knows his own political career hangs in the balance.

Yet he knows that the more open and honest a debate we have about immigration, the more we begin to question our continued EU membership.

Since the days of Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson, when Labour were secretly sending out search parties for EU migrants to come to our shores, the British public have had the wool pulled over their eyes over immigration.

After six years in government, we probably shouldn’t expect any better from our Prime Minister.

David Cameron stood idly by in 2015 as restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians coming to the UK to work were lifted.

Before then, some 50,000 National Insurance numbers were issued to citizens from these two countries. A number of these were able to do so by registering as self-employed.

Consequently, many then went on to work as sellers of The Big Issue, despite the fact that many were not homeless.

Now, in 2016, there are more than 200,000 National Insurance numbers in the hands of Romanians and Bulgarians. Who can blame them? While our minimum wage sits at £7.20-an-hour, in Bulgaria it is just 94 pence.

The simple matter of fact is that while we are a member of the EU, we have no control over our immigration system – and the longer we stay in, the worse it is going to get.

Further EU expansion is just around the corner with Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia all likely to become members within 10 years.

These states are a hotbed of corruption, organised crime and chronic unemployment.

Albania has the lowest minimum wage in Europe and its citizens will be all too eager to move to northern Europe. Children’s charity Barnardo’s has highlighted a huge increase in the number of Albanian children forced into slavery right here in the UK.

However, the biggest worry is of course Turkey. Many UK tourists who visit Istanbul, Bodrum or Kusadasi don’t see the real Turkey. Beyond the holiday hotspots lies a very poor nation of 75 million people, where the average yearly salary is just £6,500.

British people will not be looking to move to Albania or Turkey in search of work. The traffic is only going to be one way – unless of course, we vote to leave the European Union.