Government in 'panic over migrants'
Yvette Cooper says ministers have rushed out benefits curbs without thinking them through
- Live May answers question on EU benefits
- Migration plan could make UK look a 'nasty country'
- Cameron tightens benefits for EU migrants in Britain
- Reality check: will migrant benefit restrictions work?
- Analysis: plans are impractical, inequitable or illegal
-
Anne Perkins: Cameron's fact-free political rhetoric
Cameron panicking over Romanian and Bulgarian workers, says Labour
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper says ministers rushed out benefit curbs without thinking them through - theguardian.com,
Yvette Cooper: 'No
wonder public confidence in the government's handling of this issue has
collapsed.' Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
Labour has accused David Cameron of panicking over measures to curb benefits for migrants before controls on Bulgarian and Romanian workers are lifted in the new year.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said the government was "flailing around" with its proposals to limit unemployment and housing benefit for new arrivals and bar for 12 months migrants who have been deported for begging or sleeping rough.
She said public confidence in Cameron's handling of the issue has collapsed, as he had rushed out the measures before the restrictions are lifted on 1 January without thinking them through.
"The prime minister is playing catchup," she said. "Why has it taken him eight months to copy Labour's proposal to make the habitual residence test stronger and clearer?
"After Labour proposed this change in March, the government said it was all fine and nothing needed to change. Yet now, rather than following a coherent plan, they are flailing around. No wonder public confidence in the government's handling of this issue has collapsed."
A senior Labour source also pointed out more than 40 Tory backbenchers are launching an attempt to amend the immigration bill in an effort to guard against an influx of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens next year.
"The prime minister is acting because he faces a Christmas nightmare of Conservative backbenchers rebelling," the Labour source said.
"He is not taking considered and thoughtful measures to deal with immigration, he is just panicking. It is ridiculous and farcical to try to blame Labour when the Tories agreed to the accession treaties. This is not clearing up Labour mess, he is clearing up Conservative problems."
However, Theresa May, the home secretary, accused Labour of "absolutely staggering" hypocrisy over the issue of immigration.
Waving a copy of the Daily Mail in the House of Commons, she said the opposition had no right to lecture the coalition about immigration when it let a million workers from Poland and other eastern European countries come to the UK in the last round of accession.
She said many of the proposed measures would be in place before the controls on Bulgaria and Romania are lifted on 1 January, including the bar on deported migrants and the six-month limit on new migrants claiming jobseeker's allowance.
The home secretary said there was a growing coalition of support among EU member countries to stop unqualified freedom of movement within the bloc.
Cameron's proposals have been greeted by dismay in Brussels, with László Andor, the EU employment commissioner, saying they risked Britain being seen abroad as a "nasty country".
The senior official said the prime minister's efforts to outlaw so-called benefit tourism were the product of hysteria, and an "unfortunate overreaction".
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he also suggested Cameron was misleading the public about the potential scale of immigration from Bulgaria and Romania.
"The unilateral rhetoric is not really helpful, because it risks presenting the UK as a nasty country in the European Union. We don't want that," he said.
Cameron's official spokesman said the government would press on regardless of any objections or legal action from the EU.
"This is what we're going to do," he said, adding: "We're not the only country to see free movement as a qualified right."
Under the prime minister's proposals, there would be a ban on new arrivals claiming housing benefit and a three-month wait before they could claim jobseeker's allowance.
The move would require some secondary legislation, while higher fines for employers paying less than the minimum wage would require new primary legislation.
In an article for the Financial Times, Cameron said he shared the deep concerns of many people in Britain at the EU's requirement to lift transitional controls on Romanians and Bulgarians in January, and blamed "monumental" mishandling of the issue by the previous Labour government.
The lifting of transitional controls on Bulgarians and Romanians entering the UK has prompted anxiety about the numbers likely to come and opinion polls showing that most Britons want migrants from the two countries barred from working.
In the package, Cameron announced:
• No newly arrived EU jobseekers will be able to claim housing benefit.
• No EU migrant will be entitled to out-of-work benefits for the first three months. In line with a previous announcement, from January no EU migrant will be able to claim jobseeker's allowance (JSA) for more than a maximum of six months unless they can prove that they have a genuine prospect of employment.
• A new minimum-earnings threshold will be introduced before benefits such as income support can be claimed.
• Any EU national sleeping rough or begging will be deported and barred from re-entry for 12 months "unless they can prove they have a proper reason to be here, such as a job".
Asked why the proposals had been rushed out just weeks before 1 January, Downing Street said the plans had been under consideration for some time. He said the six-month limit on claiming benefits without a genuine prospect of employment and 12-month bar on re-entry of deported migrants would be in place before the restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens were lifted.
The Liberal Democrats have agreed to the measures, saying they are reasonable and sensible.
However, Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, said voters would not believe the measures were tough enough.
"It doesn't sound very tough to me, because under his proposals somebody could come here on 1 January from Romania and within 12 weeks be entitled to unemployment benefit," he said. "I think that's outrageous, I wouldn't call that tough. I would still say that we're being far too generous, even if he does have the guts to put this in place."
In contrast, Keith Vaz, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons home affairs committee, criticised aspects of the proposed welfare sanctions.
"The government is right to deal with the issue of abuse of benefits. However, it is wrong to do so just to target certain communities," he said. "As EU members, we cannot have freedom of movement without the movement.
"These appear to be panic measures which ignore the fact that we cannot control migration from the EU. We need estimates of the numbers who will come here. Policymaking should be based on evidence.
"Ministers have been urged to develop a dialogue with Romanian or Bulgarian counterparts to understand the push and pull factors of migration.
"As the country that is seen as the champion of EU enlargement under successive governments, we should do so much more to help the Romanians and Bulgarians access accession funds from the EU which would help them build up their country and provide jobs for their citizens. We have failed to do this."
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said the government was "flailing around" with its proposals to limit unemployment and housing benefit for new arrivals and bar for 12 months migrants who have been deported for begging or sleeping rough.
She said public confidence in Cameron's handling of the issue has collapsed, as he had rushed out the measures before the restrictions are lifted on 1 January without thinking them through.
"The prime minister is playing catchup," she said. "Why has it taken him eight months to copy Labour's proposal to make the habitual residence test stronger and clearer?
"After Labour proposed this change in March, the government said it was all fine and nothing needed to change. Yet now, rather than following a coherent plan, they are flailing around. No wonder public confidence in the government's handling of this issue has collapsed."
A senior Labour source also pointed out more than 40 Tory backbenchers are launching an attempt to amend the immigration bill in an effort to guard against an influx of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens next year.
"The prime minister is acting because he faces a Christmas nightmare of Conservative backbenchers rebelling," the Labour source said.
"He is not taking considered and thoughtful measures to deal with immigration, he is just panicking. It is ridiculous and farcical to try to blame Labour when the Tories agreed to the accession treaties. This is not clearing up Labour mess, he is clearing up Conservative problems."
However, Theresa May, the home secretary, accused Labour of "absolutely staggering" hypocrisy over the issue of immigration.
Waving a copy of the Daily Mail in the House of Commons, she said the opposition had no right to lecture the coalition about immigration when it let a million workers from Poland and other eastern European countries come to the UK in the last round of accession.
She said many of the proposed measures would be in place before the controls on Bulgaria and Romania are lifted on 1 January, including the bar on deported migrants and the six-month limit on new migrants claiming jobseeker's allowance.
The home secretary said there was a growing coalition of support among EU member countries to stop unqualified freedom of movement within the bloc.
Cameron's proposals have been greeted by dismay in Brussels, with László Andor, the EU employment commissioner, saying they risked Britain being seen abroad as a "nasty country".
The senior official said the prime minister's efforts to outlaw so-called benefit tourism were the product of hysteria, and an "unfortunate overreaction".
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he also suggested Cameron was misleading the public about the potential scale of immigration from Bulgaria and Romania.
"The unilateral rhetoric is not really helpful, because it risks presenting the UK as a nasty country in the European Union. We don't want that," he said.
Cameron's official spokesman said the government would press on regardless of any objections or legal action from the EU.
"This is what we're going to do," he said, adding: "We're not the only country to see free movement as a qualified right."
Under the prime minister's proposals, there would be a ban on new arrivals claiming housing benefit and a three-month wait before they could claim jobseeker's allowance.
The move would require some secondary legislation, while higher fines for employers paying less than the minimum wage would require new primary legislation.
In an article for the Financial Times, Cameron said he shared the deep concerns of many people in Britain at the EU's requirement to lift transitional controls on Romanians and Bulgarians in January, and blamed "monumental" mishandling of the issue by the previous Labour government.
The lifting of transitional controls on Bulgarians and Romanians entering the UK has prompted anxiety about the numbers likely to come and opinion polls showing that most Britons want migrants from the two countries barred from working.
In the package, Cameron announced:
• No newly arrived EU jobseekers will be able to claim housing benefit.
• No EU migrant will be entitled to out-of-work benefits for the first three months. In line with a previous announcement, from January no EU migrant will be able to claim jobseeker's allowance (JSA) for more than a maximum of six months unless they can prove that they have a genuine prospect of employment.
• A new minimum-earnings threshold will be introduced before benefits such as income support can be claimed.
• Any EU national sleeping rough or begging will be deported and barred from re-entry for 12 months "unless they can prove they have a proper reason to be here, such as a job".
Asked why the proposals had been rushed out just weeks before 1 January, Downing Street said the plans had been under consideration for some time. He said the six-month limit on claiming benefits without a genuine prospect of employment and 12-month bar on re-entry of deported migrants would be in place before the restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens were lifted.
The Liberal Democrats have agreed to the measures, saying they are reasonable and sensible.
However, Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, said voters would not believe the measures were tough enough.
"It doesn't sound very tough to me, because under his proposals somebody could come here on 1 January from Romania and within 12 weeks be entitled to unemployment benefit," he said. "I think that's outrageous, I wouldn't call that tough. I would still say that we're being far too generous, even if he does have the guts to put this in place."
In contrast, Keith Vaz, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons home affairs committee, criticised aspects of the proposed welfare sanctions.
"The government is right to deal with the issue of abuse of benefits. However, it is wrong to do so just to target certain communities," he said. "As EU members, we cannot have freedom of movement without the movement.
"These appear to be panic measures which ignore the fact that we cannot control migration from the EU. We need estimates of the numbers who will come here. Policymaking should be based on evidence.
"Ministers have been urged to develop a dialogue with Romanian or Bulgarian counterparts to understand the push and pull factors of migration.
"As the country that is seen as the champion of EU enlargement under successive governments, we should do so much more to help the Romanians and Bulgarians access accession funds from the EU which would help them build up their country and provide jobs for their citizens. We have failed to do this."
- COPY http://www.theguardian.com
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário