amideislas

You (deliberately?) missed the point.

Red Eric

Reported in the newspapers you don't read? And presumably these are an entirely different group from those vast numbers who allegedly rock up and help themselves to a huge slice of free money thanks to the UK's over-generous system of in-work handouts.

Facetiousness aside, though, I'm surprised you don't see some problems in regarding the imposition of a working visa requirement on those hitherto exempt as a solution to either labour exploitation or undocumented migrants.

For starters, is the employer likely to be any more bothered by the requirement than they are about breaking whatever rules they currently do? And if those fully entitled to seek any work they please are accepting precarious and dodgy employment or engaging in criminal activities to sustain themselves, just what do you think will prevent them doing so when they no longer have access to legit work?

Do you really think all such employers and shysters or those they exploit are going to suddenly go clean of their own accord?

DigitalGhost

No it doesn't and neither does ESTA. It exists only as a form of airline whitelisting, designed to reduce wait times and rejections at the border by preventing certain individuals from even boarding a flight in the first place. That's why it only applies to international air travel and no other form of transportation into Canada. Once you've actually sat on a plane, the eTA has served its purpose and has no actual relevance at the border.

DigitalGhost

Possibly not but the penalties for employing illegal immigrants in the UK are severe and if you restrict the ability of those illegal immigrants to be in the country then there will be less of a supply anyway.

I actually saw this on a BBC Three documentary by one of their left-leaning, young journalists who was investigating worker exploitation.

amideislas

Well, its a good thing there's not many "illegal immigrants" then, right?

Well, not yet anyway...

Red Eric

But it's not going to be "restricting the ability of illegal immigrants to be in the country" any more than at present. It's simply going to exclude more people from having a legal right to seek some categories of work in the UK.

As, even currently and with EU FoM largely helping to keep the labour market supplied with its needs, questionable practices appear to be such a problem, what makes you think that will change except for the worse?

I'm sure the penalties for dodgy employers on grounds other than employing unauthorised migrants are also similarly severe, should they actually be caught. It doesn't seem to be effectively deterring them, even by your account.

DigitalGhost

I'm not sure that's really true. FoM has just flooded the country with low skilled and low paid labour tbh. They weren't filling a need so much as they were enabling work to do be done on the cheap and pushing wages down in the lower end of the employment market.

Watchpost

The good thing about Brexit actually happening is that we will now see whether that was actually the case. When the low-skilled EU nationals return (and at least some of them will, and they won't be replaced), we will see swarms of "economically inactive" Brits abandoning their university lecture halls, their comfortable suburban semis to which they retired early on their company pensions, their sheltered workshops and hospital beds, and the homes of their relatives for whom they are caring, to pick turnips and empty bedpans for the generous salaries that will then magically be offered.

Red Eric

I guess we'll see the truth about that, insofar as the lowest paid work is concerned, in due course.

Meantime, the government has helpfully lowered the pay threshold for foreign workers entering the middle and upper end of the employment market. Do you not have any concerns about that depressing wages or flooding the country?

Watchpost

Indeed they do. The EU has progressively integrated and facilitated the movement of people within a wider territory; the UK has progressively disengaged from and obstructed the movement of people within a (previously existing) wider territory.

There are, indeed, considerable similarities between "FOM" in the EU and the Commonwealth, if you conveniently overlook that the processes have largely been in opposite directions over much the same timeframe.

Times change.

DigitalGhost

Yes I do. I personally think that decision was a huge mistake and was merely an example of government kowtowing to leftist groups and businesses.

DaveLovesDee

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Very funny.

The hard-right Tories pandering to the left is as likely as Corbyn voting for austerity measures....

DigitalGhost

Why? It happened over the Syrian refugee thing. Cameron suddenly went from a flat out refusal to reluctantly agreeing to a 20k over 5 year cap.

It happened over the Dubs agreement as well although thankfully it seems like we may have been able to get rid of that.

Red Eric

It's got absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with "leftist groups". Where on earth did you get that from, other than that peculiar obsession of yours that insists that anything at all connected with immigration that doesn't consist of stopping it dead or hoofing immigrants out has to be "leftist"?

You might actually be quite surprised if you read some properly leftist comments on the matter.

DigitalGhost

No that's OK. I don't have any cyanide pills on me right now and there isn't enough whiskey in the world to numb the pain induced by reading that tripe.