Thursday 9 July 2020

It's Not 'An Injustice' To Protect Our Borders...

...in cities, another huge issue is now inescapable. As the pandemic has ground on, attention has belatedly been paid to the million or so people in Britain who have what officialspeak terms “no recourse to public funds”, or NRPF: that means no access to benefits, notwithstanding the right to live here at least temporarily.
In other words, people who came here and didn't take up citizenship, or illegal immigrants. So, yes, of course they have no recourse to public funds.

People like this:
I also spoke to Maruf and Tasnova, a couple who volunteer at the food bank. They are unable to get work, barred from benefits, and living with their six-year-old son and three-month-old daughter in a single room. Food is at the heart of their family’s plight – not just because they have so little of it, but also in the way their anxiety is playing out in the daily rituals of mealtimes. Their son has been so unsettled – by lockdown, the suspension of school and his family’s awful circumstances – that he often refuses to eat.
Wait, I thought you didn't have any food? Now you have so much your children can choose not to eat it?

Can't you people get your story straight?
There are ways out of these injustices that are not nearly as inconceivable as some people would have you believe: a minimum income guarantee or universal basic income, an end to the immigration rules that mean so many people live in a state of constant panic, and the long-overdue abandonment of the thinking whereby people are threatened with destitution as a matter of policy.
Yes, we'll just change our whole society for the benefit of people who come here to mooch off us. That seems sensible...

9 comments:

Feral said...

Needs must I suppose. We can't have people dying unnecessary. Surely if the government gives these people a basic amount to live on while the pandemic still exists they can pay it back a little at a time when they get work. Although Britain will be in a recession for the rest of this year, I have faith that Boris and co will restart the economy early next year so there is no reason why those looking for work should not double their efforts in doing so. In the sense that these people are given a loan rather than free money it might sit better with the British people. After all, the streets of Britain are not really made of gold.

Anonymous said...

So in effect we say if you can get into UK by any means illegal or otherwise you are entitled to free everything including health care for the rest of your life and the same goes to any number of kids you produce as well. The UK taxpayer will be your own personal fairy godmother, put your feet up it's all on us mate. I am a taxpayer and being taken to the cleaners every day gives me such a warm happy feeling, now what about my kids and bills?

Bucko said...

"Their son has been so unsettled – by […] the suspension of school"

Isn't school paid for by public funds? To which they have no recourse?

Stonyground said...

"...a minimum income guarantee or universal basic income, an end to the immigration rules..."

Open borders and free money for everyone who wants to come and get it, what could possibly go wrong?

Anonymous said...

If we say come here and you will get free money the population will go through the roof.
They should go back to their own country - we can't look after the whole world.

Flaxen Saxon said...

Illegal immigrants have no right in a country in which they have broken the rule of law. If we can't control our borders then we descend to the level of the feral gypo.

Squires said...

In the country illegally, claiming they lack the funds for/access to enough food but also that their son refuses to eat... and they VOLUNTEER at a food bank.

Call me a black-hearted bastard cynic, but the first thing I would do is double-check any inventory they have access to.

JuliaM said...

"...they can pay it back a little at a time when they get work."

I think you mean 'if'.

"The UK taxpayer will be your own personal fairy godmother, put your feet up it's all on us mate."

Got it in one. I'm struggling to see how things would have been so very different if Corbyn had got in, actually.

"Isn't school paid for by public funds? To which they have no recourse?"

That's exempt from the clause. As is the NHS and other services. The 'public funds' they bang on about seem very selective.

JuliaM said...

"Open borders and free money for everyone who wants to come and get it, what could possibly go wrong?"

I'd say 'what could go wronger?' but, well...

"If we can't control our borders then we descend to the level of the feral gypo."

Sign me up for the hedgehog pot luck supper!

"...but the first thing I would do is double-check any inventory they have access to."

Yup!