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A labour MP has called on his party to oppose free movement of workers in EU (7 May 2013)

Date: 07/05/2013
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, A labour MP has called on his party to oppose free movement of workers in EU

Following the surge of support to Ukip in the recent elections even the Pro-European business leaders responded by proposing to restrict EU immigrants access to benefits, including a three month qualification period for jobseekers allowance and removal of child benefit for offspring not living in the UK.
The Business for New Europe (BNE) group admitted there was a huge gap in credibility with the public over promises made by politicians that EU immigrants could not access benefits and public services too readily. There have been proposals by Ministers on tightening of eligibility for housing, welfare and health benefits in the Queen's speech.
Rejection by pro Europeans of any tightening of the eligibility rules would become an issue which could affect the wider case of staying in the Europe – Business for New Europe believes. The BNE shift also came as a Labour member of the Treasury select committee called for Labour to respond to the rise in support for Ukip by calling for an end to the free movement of workers in the EU.
John Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire where Labour won back the council, is renowned for his blunt speaking, but also his knowledge of how his constituents are thinking. He wrote on the Labour List, how could it be fair that a youth born in a council house, living in it for 18 years and then lose out in allocation to a Polish family who have been in the country for a few months. He questioned how it could be social justice?.
He questioned how was it fair that a 58-year-old man, disabled from coalmining loses his incapacity benefit, but a family new to the country gets full housing benefit? He wrote - an employer was able to employ a Polish but refuses to interview a local person seeking work
He called for a greater directness from the Labour Party and said it was time to stop meddling with vague concepts and have clear social justice priorities.
He added the top priority in housing should be for those who have lived in social housing as children; no benefits for anyone until they have paid national insurance for two years; no free flow of capital to avoid taxes; no zero hours agency contracts with no employment rights; no open market in labour in the United Kingdom, rather a system of work permits, including for all Europeans. At the same time he insisted the Ukip surge was a bigger problem for the Conservatives than Labour since it is the Tory core vote that was defecting.
BNE'S chairman, Roland Rudd, also acknowledged the public mood and said it was important that British citizens were assured that migrants were less likely to be on their benefits than a native born. People are concerned about UK immigration, and while mainstream politicians have been more willing to speak up about it of late, there was unfortunately still a massive credibility gap.
With UK immigration consistently coming up as one of the public's top three concerns in opinion polls, many people are concerned that the system is unfair.

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