Tory leadership rivals are right to make immigration a key battleground and show they now have a plan
Give us a plan
TORY leadership rivals are right to make immigration a key battleground as they slug it out during their party conference.
Millions of Britons are concerned about unsustainable levels of migration and the last Government’s failure to get a grip on our borders — despite promises to the contrary — was inevitably punished at the ballot box.
The Tories need to show they now have a plan.
Not everyone who comes here respects our values and freedoms.
More than that, the whole economic argument for mass migration is flawed.
Our public services and infrastructure have not kept pace with rapid population growth since Tony Blair first opened the floodgates.
Access to GPs and hospital treatment is under growing pressure and net migration accounts for almost 90 per cent of the increase in England’s housing deficit over the past ten years.
While immigration has added greatly to our country, too many of those coming here in recent years take more from the economy than they contribute.
Meanwhile, there are millions of inactive Britons — while employers continue to recruit cheap labour from abroad.
Ideas from the party conference this week on how to balance genuine welfare needs with the urgent task of getting benefits claimants off hand-outs and into work, are vital.
That is how to tackle the immigration issue and turn around our economy.
BBC fee idiocy
PROSECUTING people who don’t pay the BBC licence fee is morally indefensible in the era of Netflix and YouTube.
So it is positive news that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood are uncomfortable with the nearly 1,000 prosecutions a week and are considering ending them.
They are said to agree taxpayers should not bear the cost of policing the Beeb’s outdated £169.50 levy.
The bad news is that the persecution will continue for at least two more years.
That could mean another 100,000 people criminalised for not paying for a BBC service they might not even use.
The Government needs to scrap not only the prosecutions — but also be ready to get rid of the licence fee altogether.
Rosie future
WHILE the Tory leadership race drags on, the Government has at least found it has some effective opposition.
Take a bow Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield who, after quitting Labour in disgust, looks set to be a champion for pensioners starved of the winter fuel allowance and women whose rights have been abandoned to woke warriors.
She will doubtless also be a thorn in the side for unelected characters looking to wield influence over the Government.