UK Conservatives: No more preferential treatment for EU migrants after Brexit

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UK Conservatives: No more preferential treatment for EU migrants after Brexit

 

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the University of Bolton after a large fire broke out at a student accommodation on Friday night, in Bolton, Britain, November 16, 2019. Christopher Furlong/Pool via REUTERS

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives said on Sunday they would end preferential treatment for European Union migrants from January 2021 if they win an election next month.

 

The level of immigration and concerns over the pressure this puts on public services was a major driver behind the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU.

Setting out details of their post-Brexit immigration policy ahead of a Dec. 12 election, the Conservatives said EU nationals would typically have to wait five years before they could access welfare payments, compared with the current three months.

 

"As we come out of the EU we have a new opportunity for fairness and to make sure all those who come here are treated the same. We will make our immigration system equal," Johnson said in a statement.

 

The Conservatives also said they would increase the international health surcharge paid by migrants to access Britain's National Health Service to 625 pounds ($800) from 400 pounds from next year, and extend it to all foreign workers.

 

This would include EU migrants after free movement ends in January 2021, the party said, adding that they expected the move to raise more than 500 million pounds a year.

 

The Conservatives said the vast majority of migrants would need a job offer to come to Britain to work regardless of where they are from in the world, with exceptions including highly skilled scientists and those who want to start a business.

 

Johnson's predecessors, David Cameron and Theresa May, came under fire for failing to meet a pledge to reduce annual net migration to less than 100,000. It was more than double that in the latest official figures released in August.

 

The Conservatives have pledged to introduce a points-based system for post-Brexit immigration.

 

"We are not going to fix on an arbitrary target," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told BBC TV, when asked by how much the Conservatives would reduce immigration.

 

"What we will do is make sure that the government and parliament has got control over immigration so we get the advantages, the benefits ... and we also control the costs and the pressures."

 

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan, editing by Louise Heavens)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-18

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[AussieBob18]

3 months !!  What a joke.  

[tomacht8]

... with exceptions including highly skilled scientists and those who want to start a busines.

 

That's just hot air. Why should all the best be done now after Brexit? Nobody prevented the UK before from inviting business people and highskilled researchers. 

 

With the disappearance of the EU subsidies for science and the free market access will probably happen rather the opposite. 

[rudi49jr]

So no more preferential treatment for UK citizens living/working in the EU then either, I presume?

[soalbundy]

I agree with Baldricks idea, make it difficult for well educated and qualified immigrants from the EU, put them on the same level as those from the commonwealth countries.

[Krataiboy]

The UK is already one of the most overcrowded countries in the world, with a population set to increase by a staggering three million in just ten years - with all this implies in terms of the strain on public services, a bigger burden on the taxpayer and increasing social and cultural divisions.

 

Yet, incredibly, none of the parties fighting the upcoming general election have policies likely to seriously reduce the inflow of migrants, which according to official statistics reached 307,000 in 2018 - with a similar pattern expected this year.

 

Brexit has presented its chief architect, Boris Johnson, with a golden opportunity to slam the brakes on an out-of-control immigration policy which amounts to economic and cultural suicide. But, having talked the talk on Brexit and immigration, does he have the conviction and courage to walk the walk?

 

 

[Thingamabob]

Excellent. Present situation is ridiculous.

[kingdong]

On 11/18/2019 at 8:02 AM, Krataiboy said:

The UK is already one of the most overcrowded countries in the world, with a population set to increase by a staggering three million in just ten years - with all this implies in terms of the strain on public services, a bigger burden on the taxpayer and increasing social and cultural divisions.

 

Yet, incredibly, none of the parties fighting the upcoming general election have policies likely to seriously reduce the inflow of migrants, which according to official statistics reached 307,000 in 2018 - with a similar pattern expected this year.

 

Brexit has presented its chief architect, Boris Johnson, with a golden opportunity to slam the brakes on an out-of-control immigration policy which amounts to economic and cultural suicide. But, having talked the talk on Brexit and immigration, does he have the conviction and courage to walk the walk?

 

 

They just stick their heads in the sand.

[Chomper Higgot]

I look forward to seeing how the small print in these proposals impact the rights of British expats living in Thailand.

(Cast your mind back to the impact of the income requirements applied to all returning with a foreign spouse).

 

Be assured, the term ‘immigrant’ is going to get some odd definitions attached to it.

 

Cheer as you are being shafted.

 

Good luck y’all.