British Prime Minister David Cameron has been clever with last week’s announcement on toughening the United Kingdom’s rules on immigration by people from inside the European Union (EU). Rather than challenge the basic premise of the EU, which is to allow free movement of people, goods and services between all the 28 states, he has challenged what he calls “benefit tourism” and tried to cut down on people who come to Britain and abuse the rights that immigrants are allowed to claim. This both keeps the Conservative initiative within the EU rules, but more importantly for Cameron, it also plays to popular British suspicion that foreigners are benefiting from Britain’s generous social security system.
Cameron made the announcement before the British party conference season and so has prepared the way for the Conservatives to effectively counter the increasingly successful attacks by the UK Independence Party (UKIP). He will not have much trouble from the opposition Labour Party nor from his coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, as all three mainstream parties have recognised that this issue is one that touches a large number of voters.
The changes involve a lot of small modifications to existing rules, rather than a broad sweep. For example, people arriving in Britain will have to wait three months before being allowed to claim out-of-work benefits, rather than getting this government money immediately, and they will not be able to claim the allowances after six months, unless they have very clear job prospects. Immigrants without work will not be able to get a driving licence or open bank accounts.
Such changes are seen as obviously fair and they are hard to attack. So they add up to a powerful image that the Conservatives are doing something, even if some immigration analysts point out that the numbers affected are in the low ten thousands, out of an annual total of about 500,000 immigrants into Britain. With about 300,000 emigrants leaving Britain every year, the net inflow is around 200,000 which will not change much despite Cameron’s vote catching moves last week.
