Brexit, Migration and the Hand Wrangling

British Prime Minister David Cameron accepted a long-standing invitation to speak at the European Parliament, where he will appear on February 16, two days before EU leaders discuss his proposals for reformed U.K. membership of the EU at a summit.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who has been pushing for Cameron to explain his views on the Brexit debate to the assembly since September, extended the invitation personally in London on Thursday — and Cameron has finally said Yes.

The biggest issue on the benefits side that David Cameron has is the strain put the welfare system by migration that was built on the principle that people should work and contribute before drawing on the system.

The system was not designed to finance people’s children in other countries. Nor was it designed to subsidies companies paying rock-bottom wages, employing migrants on temporary low-paid, short-term contracts with no job security.

According to Rachel Reeves,  shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: -

There are 252,000 working households from the EU now receiving tax credits, including 12 per cent of all single, childless people receiving Working Tax Credit.

Some may have been working for several years, but others may be recent arrivals on short-term contracts.

The House of Commons library estimates total spending on in-work tax credits for EU migrant household’s amounts to £1.6bn a year.

Recent estimates from the House of Commons library showed 20,400 people receiving child benefit for 34,268 children living in other countries, and 4,011 people receiving Child Tax Credit for 6,838 children living in other countries.

We certainly don’t need to leave the EU to solve this problem. Although there is a vigorous Leave campaign being trumpeted by the right wing media, when it comes down to the wire, a majority of people can still see the benefits of being in a united Europe.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs are warning that sterling could fall by up to 20% if Britain votes to leave the European Union.

The US investment bank believes Britain will remain in the EU, but its macro markets strategy team has looked at what would happen to the pound if the vote goes the other way.

It predicts that such an outcome would alarm foreign investors and put them off injecting capital into Britain, placing pressure on the current account deficit.

Goldman Sachs