U.K. IMMIGRATION (3)

David Cameron has finally admitted that the aim (stated in the Conservative Party manifesto of 2010) of reducing net immigration from 252,000 in 2010 to the "tens of thousands" in 2015 will not be met. That is a sensible admission; provisional figures for the year to June show that net migration was 260,000! And it shows no sign of coming down.

Given the threat of UKIP, which (having won two by-elections) now has two MP's in Parliament and is likely to win more at next year's general election, Mr. Cameron has changed tack. In a major speech today, he outlined plans for curbing E.U. migrants' rights to in-work benefits (eg tax credits), social housing and child benefit (for children still living back home) until they have been in the U.K. for four years. The idea behind the policy is that by reducing the financial benefits of being in the U.K., people will not come.

I don't believe in that underlying idea. But even if I did, there are considerable problems with Mr. Cameron's proposals, and not just that he will have to win that election if they are going to become official Government policy. The bigger difficulty is that they would require changes to the treaties underpinning the European Union, over which all of the other 27 Member States have a veto. Why wouldn't one of them (Poland, for example) not exercise that veto?

Britain is fast boxing itself into a corner with respect to immigration and E.U. matters from which it will be very difficult to escape. Meanwhile, net migration will continue to be high, however much Mr. Cameron huffs and puffs.

Walter Blotscher