Quote:
Originally Posted by Catfish
(Post 2609829)
I have to accept that although i cannot see this being true for all younger people of the UK :hmmm:
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The answer will vary depending on where in the UK you ask it.
To start with immigration all the data so far indicates that the majority of the UK population prefers some sort of control of it, regardless of whether it's EU or
non-EU. In large part for the reasons that Nordmann wrote. This is something where the UK's internecine class warfare plays a not insubstantial role. From a business perspective why employ "surly, strike prone, lazy" UK workers when their non-British conterparts will just get on with the job as the conditions are still better than back home? So on that issue, at least, internal UK social conditions are an influence.
However the extent to which that applies again will vary across the UK - it's more of an issue in an already overcrowded England than in Scotland because the former is more succesfull economically than the latter and has a greater attraction for prospective immigrants looking for employment. For Scotland (more explicitely the SNP) it's a matter of attracting workers to make up for a population level which has been largely stagnant (at approx 5 million) over the last century or so which is now exacerbated by an ageing population which needs to be supported financially.
As an aside, politicians on both sides of the Scottish Independence divide don't seem to be making any effort to find out why Scotland has had such a historical
emigration problem. Perhaps trying to find out exactly why people leave Scotland in the first place rather than stay would be a start in improving it's economic performance amongst others issues.:hmmm:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nordmann
(Post 2609896)
The EU certainly benefits certain people (the rich get richer as it were), but does it benefit everyone? No, I don't think so, at least not if you're an ordinary working person in the UK. If you're running a business reliant on cheap EU labour, then yes, you're probably very keen to keep that relationship. But the rest of us? What does it offer us?
Free movement works very well for EU member states, and obviously for UK businesses, but what about people born in the UK? What do they get out of it, except increased competition for jobs?
That's the real problem with the whole Brexit debate, we are making long term decisions on the needs and wants of the few, rather than the whole. What best serves the ordinary citizen, not the rich business owner or politician, that's the question we should really be asking.
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Very good point but this is where I think there is a distinct difference between England and Scotland. Financially I would posit the Scotland has benefitted a great deal more from the UK's EU membership than England has. This is largely due to the EU helping to fund projects in Scotland that the UK Treasury wouldn't as they were regarded as being non-financially viable when looked at from a whole UK perspective. Why pay for business and infrastructure development in the Highlands and Western Isles when the same type of projects implemented in heavily populated areas of England are much more likely to generate a substantial amount of revenue for the Treasury?
Note that this applies specifically to capital investment, i.e. infrastructure etc.
As for of the different spend per head levels between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It would be nice if they were the same across all the regions of the UK but I have a feeling that changing to a spending system based on
need rather than an arcane calculation would still result in regional differences. I think under such a system the latter three regions would still have a higher average per head spend than England.
Mike.
