Our International policies are not straight forward because we were the leading part of an empire which covered a large proportion of the globe, we are tied to the EU, and we have an historical relationship with the US. My generation was mainly against going into the European Union, because the UK being a series of islands, had been one of our strengths, and when the EU decided to have open borders most of us were not only shocked, we objected strongly. Now at the time of the credit crunch, we have approximately 2 million unemployed, what percentage of those 2 million is related to the immigrant population is almost impossible to discover. I found it impossible to find just how many immigrants are in Britain, but I found copious government websites devoted to helping others to come, which surprised me, considering our fiscal situation.
Yesterday, Sunday, David Cameron was giving an interview in which he was setting out the policies of the Conservative Party, in the event of them taking over the government at the next election. He talked a lot about trying to encourage the generation of work in this country, but failed to mention the fact that a considerable proportion of work which could be equally done in this country, is farmed abroad where labour is cheaper, and quality is poorer in many cases. The sum total of this policy is that the taxpayer is in fact subscribing to these companies dealing abroad, by the fact that they, the taxpayers, are having to pay unemployment benefit to the people in this country who would normally have been carrying out the work, and so the net value in national terms is closer to what it would have been if the work has not been sent abroad.
There are so many aspects like this that one can cite, where the short-sightedness of the rules issued by Brussels is seriously affecting our way of life, from open borders, to being fined if rules are broken, in spite of the fact in some cases it was inevitable, by the differences between the UK and the rest of Europe, culturally, geographically, and atmospherically..