Mass Immigration Has Hit Wages And Made Jobs Less Secure For British Workers.

[anotheoldgit]

Who says that UKIP? No Labour.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3253903/Burnham-set-open-major-split-Labour-admitting-mass-immigration-hit-wages-party-touch-public.html

[tonyav]

Gawd blimey, how about that. One of them has landed on planet Earth.

[Svejk]

Poor old lefties have been ridiculing anyone who suggested such a thing on here, for years. They live in, increasingly, confusing times.

[Peter Pedant]

.

supply and demand economics - which I think is accepted by both Left and Right. I thought that was why Germany was welcoming them - unit costs for unskilled labour goes down

more reason to tell the kids to keep in skool - or else they will have to labour at rates we are offereing Romanians .....

[Gromit]

A tad ironic that Andy Burnham was part of the Blair/Brown Governments that under estimated (hugely) the influx of immigrants coming here, but is now lecturing the new leader that it was a mistake and that Labour are out of touch.

Whenever curbs on this influx of cheap workers are mentioned, it is not the left who complain loudest, it is the Captains of Industry at the CBI, who had Blair/Brown in their pocket.

[Old_Geezer]

Wow, who'd have thought immigration would do that ? That's almost as bad as free movement of labour within the EU. Oh hang on, that's what he means by immigration. Here's the problem, it is a cross party issue with those who don't care as long as Europe is one big family, and those with a little common sense.

[Old_Geezer]

S&D should have limits to work within. If one cares for one's own country's economy you don't open your national labour market to the continent or the world. That's effectively breaking the rules and allowing the powerful to play your country and its labour force against the others some of whom have a lower wage lower price economy. Not a level playing field. It's brings wealth to the powerful rich which by and large does not trickle down far, and makes a mockery of a government doing its best for its citizens or its country.

[anotheoldgit]

Old_Geezer

/// and makes a mockery of a government doing its best for its citizens or its country. ///

What recent government has ever done it's best for its citizens or it's country?

[Old_Geezer]

They are probably already not in a position to. Powerful folk have interest in keeping the status quo. Power is a strange thing, you have to persuade it gradually to reside where it should. Trouble is the folk able to think how to manipulate things are likely to be the ones who would rather ensure things are best for themselves, rather than the community in general. Human failings.

[jourdain2]

Could Mr. Burnham possibly be positioning himself for a leadership challenge next year?

[jno]

the British people seem to like things cheap, which is why they're okay with buying sweatshop clothes and food costing so little that farmers go to the wall. But this means keeping wages down in Britain, or seeing the production of everything move abroad so that locals lose their jobs.

So you have to decide what you want - a country with cheap goods and cheap labour, or one where people get good wages but things cost more.

[Svejk]

^Yes, no doubt every time wages go down, everything gets cheaper.

[anotheoldgit]

jno

/// So you have to decide what you want - a country with cheap goods and cheap labour, or one where people get good wages but things cost more. ///

I remember a time when there was only one wage earner in the family, even so, one lead a reasonable life style, food was cheap, a man could afford to have his suits made to measure, bus and train travel were cheap and one could afford to buy their house.