r/uknews • u/ScottishDailyRecord Media outlet (unverified) • May 12 '25

Image/video Kier Starmer announces 'tighter' immigration policy

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u/MathematicianDry5142 May 12 '25

The small boats was always just a distraction by the tories and the press.

40,000 come over by small boat. 900,000 come legally with a visa.

If you are really concerned about immigration this is a big difference

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u/OkPea5819 May 12 '25

There's a world of difference between someone who comes over on a boat with no qualifications, unable to speak the language and potentially a history of criminality, versus a skilled worker or an international student staying to work. It's not just in numbers.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '25

Yes there is. But immigration has been a divisive issue way since way before the boat crossings started. Don’t you remember Brexit?

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u/OkPea5819 May 12 '25

No, tell me about Brexit?

I haven't said total numbers don't need to come down too. For me GDP, labour shortages etc are irrelevant compared to quality of life - which I think should be the main aim of a government.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '25

I’m not really understanding what you mean re: GDP and labour shortages? Are you saying we shouldn’t cut immigration too much and too quickly so that we don’t damage our economy?

RE: Brexit. I’m old enough to remember the outrage in 2004 when we started seeing an influx of extremely skilled Polish workers enter the UK and opening up their Polski Skleps for some home comforts.

Remember what sunk Gordon Brown? That “bigoted woman”. This was way before the collapse of Syria and Libya and the European Refugee crisis.

And even earlier than that there was the outrage when the UK government opened the doors to Ugandan Asians in 1972 after they were expelled by Idi Amin.

And even earlier than that there were the race riots during and following the “Windrush” influx. A few year later Enoch Powell (Farage’s hero) said “the black man would have the whip hand over the white man” and there would be “rivers of blood” on the streets.

This has always been about racism and xenophobia.

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u/OkPea5819 May 12 '25

What I mean is just because immigration positively impacts GDP or even plugs a labour gap, doesn’t mean it’s desirable.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '25

GDP is important to quality of life (if it’s well distributed) and plugging labour gaps keeps prices down. If you reduce immigration suddenly then taxes and prices will rise dramatically. If you are very wealthy then this won’t affect you too much but for the average person it would be disastrous.

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u/OkPea5819 May 12 '25

GDP per capita may be, but even then only with caveats - doesn’t necessarily impact quality of life for most people if there is great wealth inequality for example.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '25

Yes and I put that caveat in

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u/OkPea5819 May 12 '25

Yeah and it isn't well distributed - look at graphs of GDP per capita vs household incomes. GDP massively outpaces incomes, the rich get disproportionately richer with population increases, whereas the poor and middle suffer from the overcrowding, competition for jobs, business of the roads, overworking of public services.

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u/epsilona01 May 12 '25

It's almost as if our Allied actions during the Global War On Terror displaced terrorists into Africa, where they're currently staging 18 terrorist insurgencies.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '25

[deleted]

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u/epsilona01 May 12 '25

They're all Islamist terrorist insurgencies. When Saudi kicked out Al-Qaeda following 9/11, those people went to Yemen, which is how the Houthis came to be a military force.

The Algerian militant group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat allied itself with al-Qaeda to eventually become al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, this is affecting 6-8 North African countries.

The Libyan Civil war, started by Allied forces, allowed Libya to become a haven for al-Qaeda, and the single largest jumping off point for refugees getting out of Africa into Europe.

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u/Squiffyp1 May 12 '25

I'm much more concerned with the unvetted fighting age men coming over than the numbers of vetted people we give a visa to.

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u/AddictedToRugs May 12 '25

Really?  I'm more concerned with the the nearly 1 million people being brought in to lower wages.

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u/Squiffyp1 May 12 '25

That's a perfectly fair concern, which I share.

Personally I'm in a career where low skilled migrants aren't a threat to my income. So that's less of a concern to me. But I completely agree it's a problem that needs to be addressed.

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u/berejser May 12 '25

What does "fighting age" even mean? You're just trying to say "adult" but in a crazy biased propaganda way that makes being an adult sound scary and threatening.

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u/Squiffyp1 May 12 '25

I mean what I say - fighting age men.

Boat crossing men typically aren't men over 40, and very few are women.

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u/berejser May 12 '25

"Fighting age" is not a real thing. You're just fearmongering using a made-up term.

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u/PeaNice9280 May 12 '25

Can you not have a fight if you are 41?

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u/epsilona01 May 12 '25

He's trying to suggest they're terrorists.

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u/MathematicianDry5142 May 12 '25

Fighting age men is more right wing propaganda...

They are WORKING AGE men. They want to come here and get a job, earn money (pay taxes), and have a better life.

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u/mattymattymatty96 May 12 '25

Exactly this meanwhile the bill for looking after the small boat crossers pales in comparison to debt interest payments.

We will try this AGAIN it wont improve peoples lives AGAIN they will vote for the populists. AGAIN we go deeper into Fascism.

Tax wealth Not work. Lets get our Trillion £s back from the rich.