Above, inserted with the Lib Dem logo, is Emma Lazarus (22nd July, 1849 – 19th November, 1887), a poet from New York City. She is best known for “The New Colossus”, a sonnet written in 1883; its lines appear inscribed on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Let us be blunt:
1. The EU’s policy of the “Free Movement of People” hurts the poor, the vulnerable and the low paid. The Member for Birkenhead, Mr Frank Field has stated this often. Mr Field is no Tory!
2. The Tories wish to remain in the EU because it benefits them and their rich friends. Au-pairs and cleaners are in cheap and plentiful supply!
Now, face some FACTS:
The average house price in Romania is 45,000 Euros… The average house price in the UK is 340,000 Euros, plus.
There is thanks to the Free Movement of People, unlimited access to the UK for people from EU member countries such as Romania. Poor people from these countries on the UK minimum wage, living in appalling accommodation (provided by profiteering private landlords) to minimize costs, have a good chance or buying a house, outright, back home by saving over 4 or 5 years.
They work hard because they have a chance to radically improve their lives and that of their families and should be applauded for grasping the chance to do so.
Who gains?
Middle class people employing domestics. Many needing a plumber or an electrician. Not forgetting the Tory landlords making fortunes! True, there are businesses that would either have to adapt or die if they had to pay higher wages: farmers now making a living from cut flowers for instance. This low paid work is back breaking. Try it if in doubt!
Who loses?
The poor, the low paid the vulnerable. These good folk don’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell’s hottest furnace of ever owning a house in the UK and there is nowhere suitable elsewhere in the EU where they can migrate to either! They find their wages slashed, whilst their rent continues to spiral. The idea they could share the shocking conditions of visiting migrant labour is unconscionable; even then, they could never come close to buying a home of their own.
The real wages, in effect, for visiting migrant labour are radically higher than for those who were born in the UK. That is why, after all, people are drawn to the UK in their millions. And that is why they will continue to come as long as the UK remains in the EU.
Be in no doubt. This is a policy that makes money for the Tories and their friends!
But are you prepared to let the Tories gain why the poor take the pain?
If you are then you are not the Liberals that I knew when I was in your party in the 1980s!