David Cameron vows to get tough on freeloading foreignersDAVID...

David Cameron vows to get tough on freeloading foreigners

DAVID Cameron yesterday promised to crack down on the benefits free-for-all for migrants coming to Britain.

By: Macer Hall and Patrick O’FlynnPublished: Tue, February 26, 2013
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David Cameron has ordered ministers to “think like Conservatives” (PIC: TIM CLARKE)

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Express, the Prime Minister revealed that newcomers are to be banned from claiming legal aid in cases involving benefits, housing and other civil claims.

And the measure – expected to save taxpayers millions of pounds – is the first step in wide-ranging regulations to curb immigrants from getting immediate access to public services and benefits.

“We’re a fair country and a welcoming country, but not a soft touch,” Mr Cameron said. “Let’s make sure that ours is the toughest country instead of the softest.”

He has also ordered ministers to “think like Conservatives” and come up with fresh ideas for curbing immigrants’ access to the NHS, social housing and a string of welfare handouts.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Express, Mr Cameron also spoke of his “immense frustration” at working with Nick Clegg after his Liberal Democrat deputy reneged on a deal on reforming Parliamentary boundaries.

He also vowed to keep Chancellor George Osborne in his post despite Britain losing its cherished AAA credit rating.

But he reserved his strongest words for a pledge to go far further in cutting annual net immigration.

Promising new curbs on benefits to try to discourage a massive influx from Bulgaria and Romania when border controls are relaxed at the end of the year, he said: “I think the most important thing is to make sure that while you have free movement you are not a soft touch.

“That is why we are going through, in fine detail, our benefits system, our tax system, our health system, our housing system, every aspect of our welfare system.”

Mr Cameron’s crackdown is designed to save cash from Britain’s £2billion annual legal aid bill.

He has asked Justice Secretary Chris Grayling to develop a new “residency test” to ensure that migrants do not get automatic access to legal aid in civil court cases. A Government study to look into the new policy will be announced soon.

The Prime Minister promised to look at overhauling the welfare state to stop instant access to some benefits – such as tax credits and child benefit – for new arrivals who have paid little UK tax or national insurance.

Mr Cameron said: “I think there is more we can do. One of the aspects that we are reaching fairly early conclusion on is that we can no longer grant legal aid to non-UK nationals or for civil cases, people who are facing housing cases or benefit cases.

“We need a proper residency test for those cases and we’re going to consult on introducing one.

“That is just one element of a huge range of measures to make sure that people who do come here are coming here because there is a particular job of work they want to do – rather than coming here because they want to use the health service or get a council house.”

Patrick O’Flynn and Macer Hall interview the Prime Minister (PIC: TIM CLARKE)

Let’s make sure Britain’s the toughest, not softest
Prime Minister David Cameron
Mr Cameron revealed that he had recently chaired a meeting of the ministerial group on migration control. He urged ministers not to be persuaded against acting tough on immigration by civil servants.

“Going through area after area, I’ve told the ministers: tear up your departmental brief, I’m not interested in what you were told to say when you came to this meeting; rip it up, think like a Conservative and make sure you’re really doing what is necessary to ask the difficult questions in your department.

“Make sure that we’re a fair country and a welcoming country but not a soft touch.”

The Prime Minister insisted bringing down the annual net flow of immigration – which exceeded 200,000 newcomers a year under Labour – was one of his biggest political motivations.

“Two million people over 10 years net migration into the UK was just much, much too high,” he said. “Two hundred thousand a year is like building two cities the size of Birmingham. We were not able to cope with that level of migration and pressure on public services.

“We’ve seen the level of net migration come down by a quarter over the last two- and-a-half years. I want to see further progress.

“There is an enormous amount of work to be done in looking at what other European countries do.

“Are we more generous? Can we make changes? Can we change the way the benefit system works? Can we make more benefits have a contributory principle in some way to make sure they’re not so immediately available to people?

“There are issues about housing, issues about the health service and access to hospitals.”

Mr Cameron also defended his appeal during his recent tour of India for more Indian students to come to Britain.

He said: “I wanted to send a message that if you’ve got a place at a university, if you can speak the English language, there isn’t an arbitrary limit on who can come. Afterwards you can work, but only in a graduate job. In India I was pressed quite hard – why can’t we work in non-graduate jobs?

“I was very clear, including when sitting among those 500 girls in the Delhi college, I said we have unemployed people in Britain who need to be put into work.

“I’m not interested in people coming to study in university, then staying on for ages in unskilled jobs. That is not in our national interest.

“Our message is very clear. We want immigration that will benefit Britain.”

David Cameron spoke of his “immense frustration” at working with Nick Clegg (PIC: TIM CLARKE)

DAVID CAMERON ON...

THE ECONOMY

David Cameron yesterday rejected Tory calls for George Osborne to be shifted out of the Treasury following the recent blow to Britain’s international credit rating.

In a vote of confidence in his under-pressure Chancellor, the Prime Minister said: “He is doing a great job in very difficult times.”

He insisted that low borrowing rates would spur the country to recovery.

“This is a reminder of just how tough it is, how hard we have to work to get on top of its deficit and pay our way in the world,” he said of the decision by international rating agency Moody’s to downgrade the UK from an AAA rating to AA1.

“In the end, what matters most of all is what interest rates you are paying on the debt you have, how you are able to fund your debts.

“There, Britain has a good record, strong credibility, low interest rates which we must maintain.”

Mr Cameron added: “There are other countries that have lost their top credit ratings, so we are not alone in this.

“All over the world countries are battling with big deficits and big debts and having to make difficult decisions.

“What matters is sticking to those difficult decisions.”

WELFARE

Welfare benefits for the jobless could be cut further as voters are still fed up that some claimants are ripping off the system, Mr Cameron indicated yesterday.

The Prime Minister signalled the Government’s £26,000 limit on benefit claims could be reduced in many parts of the country to reflect local prices.

“Are there opportunities for working out how this might work in different parts of the country? Are there other ways of trying to cap excessive welfare payments?

“People can work hard and contribute and feel frustrated when people who haven’t done those things get help,” he said.

He also spoke of his pride in protecting benefits until 2016 for the elderly such as free bus passes, free TV licences and winter fuel payments. And he added the Government was making huge efforts to protect the elderly from the rising cost of care by setting a £75,000 cap.

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THE EU

Voters will be guaranteed an in-or-out referendum on Britain’s European Union membership if David Cameron wins the next election.

Mr Cameron sought yesterday to dampen speculation that his poll promise could be ditched in possible future coalition negotiations if there was another hung parliament.

Vowing to win a better deal for Britain from Brussels, he said: “If I’m prime minister, you will get that renegotiation and that referendum.” He said voters deserved a choice after decades of the expansion of Brussels power without a single poll.

And he added: “I’m confident that we will secure the changes that are needed. What I want is to secure a reformed EU and Britain’s place within it.

“I’m giving people the choice. You can’t have a European Union developing in a way that it has developed, with treaty after treaty, change after change, power after power. You can’t have that without seeking the consent of the British people.

“I want to seek that consent on the basis of a better deal. You can’t go on for year after year without the public having a say.”

Mr Cameron said senior Tories were now united around his referendum pledge.

And he promised to keep battling to cut the UK contribution to EU funds after his recent victory in securing a reduced seven-year Brussels budget.

He said: “We’ve done a good deal. I will always be tough on the budget. We pay in more than we get back. But that doesn’t mean I think we should come out of the EU. We can get reforms.”

FOREIGN AID

David Cameron defended his spiralling overseas aid budget yesterday and said helping the world’s poor made Britain safer.

“We made a promise about overseas aid. I think you shouldn’t break your promises to the poorest people in the world,” he told the Daily Express.

“To anyone who is dubious, I would say look at the consequences when a country like Somalia falls apart.

“It means more migration, more asylum seekers, more terrorism. So money spent to stabilise and prevent the breakdown of failed states is actually a good investment for Britain.”

He insisted he was still “proud” of the defence budget, despite slashing Britain’s armed forces.

“The defence budget is £33billion and is being held at that in cash terms for the Parliament. It is the fourth largest anywhere in the world.

“We are getting two new aircraft carriers, the A400m transport plane, the ground strike fighter. We are proud of our defence budget.”

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Comments (83)
Transivanian12:01am on Wednesday, 27th February 2013Report This Comment
So yes! Please, go ahead with all those measures.

Romanians who wanted to leave the country started doing that under Ceausescu and the flow ended when Iliescu lost power. So people who wanted Britain is already in Britain. In 2014 maybe some people will move from Spain to UK, but that's it.

UK is a sad & rainy country after all, and Romanians are Latin - so they like sunny countries, like Italy and Spain.

Transivanian11:54pm on Tuesday, 26th February 2013Report This Comment
This only affects Indians anyway. Not the Punjabi that migrated to UK after British empire colapse, but the Punjabi that left Punjab around 700C.E. and have Romanian citizenship now.

B0xter10:09pm on Tuesday, 26th February 2013Report This Comment
4 million Bulgarians have given the UK as their preferred destination choice when the EU lifts all restrictions on them and their Romanian neighbours coming here after Christmas so if Mr Cameron is serious about this he would need to get his skates on. Martin Schulz EU President has already scuppered the £768 billion - (some £68 billion less than the European Commission originally demanded) and states he simply wont sign off what Mr Cameron got them to vote for thus annulling it. He also said that if Cameron didnt like it they would veto his renegociation of Britains EU membership which in its self is a tacit admission that the current deal is seriously harming our country

JHughes9:58pm on Tuesday, 26th February 2013Report This Comment
Net immigration has fallen from 252 000 in 2010 to 183 000 in the year to March 2012, and during the same period immigration has fallen from 591 000 to 536 000. Net immigration from EU is now just around 10 000, and unlike in 2004 there are only 2 nations that will have free migration rights (Romania and Bulgaria). In 2004 8 nations joined and the UK was an attractive destination particularly because unlike France and Germany, the then government did not exercise right to restrict entry.

Bert999:37pm on Tuesday, 26th February 2013Report This Comment
We can't just change the Human rights act because it doesn't deal effectively with UK immigration issues. The human rights act wasn't designed to deal with UK immigration. What we need to do is create primary legislation which would specifically deal with the exploitation of article 8 (the right to a family life) However this may prove more difficult then they think as you cannot create legislation which violates or takes away already established human rights just to make a vote winning stance on immigration control. What this government is trying to do is punish some foreign born UK criminals twice to look tough on immigration. Once in the courts and twice by sending them back to a country they don't want to go to. If they are that dangerous why were they released from prison and why are they here in the first place? Funny how they are UK citizens when they behave and foreigners when they don’t. If we want to be tough let’s get out of the EU and make our own rules. Vote UKIP

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/380278/David-Cameron-vows-to-get-tough-on-freeloading-foreigners