In response to many Aberconwy constituents expressing concerns about levels of immigration into the UK, Guto Bebb AS/MP wrote to those concerned, letting them know some of the things he, and the Government, are doing to address these concerns. Read his full letter below.
"Dear Resident,
Re: Immigration
When I am out and about in the constituency many constituents express their concern about the levels of immigration in this country. I understand these concerns and wanted to let you know some of the things I, as your Member of Parliament and the Government are doing to address these concerns.
The previous Government’s toxic immigration policy let in over 2.2 million immigrants and one former Cabinet minister recently admitted that the then Labour Government were “… sending out search parties for people and encouraging them ...”. I’m proud that this Government have listened to hard working people and taken a drastically different approach, reducing net immigration by a third so far.
In 2004, many countries like France and Germany put controls on migrants from Eastern European countries that had joined the European Union. Labour refused the opportunity to use such transitional controls which resulted in a huge influx of foreign nationals heading to Britain. More than 80 per cent of new jobs created in the so-called ‘boom’ years went to foreign nationals. Indeed, between 2005 and 2010 400,000 people born in the UK joined the unemployment register even though 700,000 jobs were taken by workers not born in the UK. Under this Government’s handling of the economic recovery, coupled with our reforms to the Welfare State, around 70% of the 1.5million new jobs created have been taken by workers born in the UK.
As you are no doubt aware from the first of January 2014 Romanian and Bulgarian nationals were free to come and work in the UK. Unfortunately we are bound by the treaty that the Labour Party signed while in office, which severely limits our ability to tackle immigration from these countries. However, the Government have applied the strongest possible controls allowed on workers from Romania and Bulgaria, starting with a two year extension, the maximum, to the date they were able to enter, which was originally 2012. Following pressure from MPs’ such as myself, the Government have now gone further and changed the rules relating to benefits. EU immigrants will not be able to claim work benefits for the first three months of being in the UK. If, after three months, an EU national needs benefits, they will only be able to claim for a maximum of six months unless they can prove they have a genuine prospect of employment. Newly arrived EU nationals will also be banned from claiming housing benefits. I wonder to what extent the lower than expected number of migrants from Romania and Bulgaria are a reflection in the changes implemented by this Government? It is my belief that this new fairer approach has paid dividends.
We are toughening the test immigrants must pass to claim benefits by strengthening the habitual residency test and introducing a new minimum earnings threshold. Anyone who fails will have their access to benefits, such as income support, cut off. We have issued guidance to local authorities to adopt a local residency requirement for social housing eligibility of at least two years and legislated to force landlords to check new tenant’s immigration status. The Government is cracking down on those who come here and refuse to work too. EU immigrants that are begging or sleeping rough will be removed from the UK and barred from re-entry.
A growing concern of mine has been the number of EU immigrants that use our NHS without having paid in to the system. The Government are combating this by improving the way the NHS claims back the cost of treating foreign nationals from their home country. This Government is acting, in stark contrast to Labour’s policy of unlimited immigration.
However, we are constrained by Labour’s treaties and by our membership of the EU. I firmly believe that we need to restrict the free movement of people across the EU, which would require us to renegotiate our membership of the EU. Should the Conservatives win the next General Election, we will renegotiate the terms of our membership of the EU and will be strongly arguing to include an opt-out on free movement which will allow us to decide on our policy here in the UK rather than being bound by the EU. Following that renegotiation, we will have an in/out referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU. I was a sponsor of the recent effort to legislate for an in/out referendum which was proposed by my friend, James Wharton MP. We managed to get this legislation passed by the House of Commons but in the House of Lords the bill was killed, on purpose, by Labour, Liberal and a Plaid Cymru Peer who proposed hundreds of amendments in order to stop the people of this country having their say. The Conservative Party are committed to re-introducing this legislation and it will, again, receive my full support. I want you to have your say on this issue in stark contrast to the opposition parties who conspired to kill the legislation in the House of Lords.
I have addressed the issue of EU immigration in this letter as this is probably the area where we have least control over our borders as a direct result of treaties signed into law by the previous Labour Government. Our membership of the EU means we are not free to control EU immigration in the same way we that we are with non-EU immigration. I want you to know that as your MP I am very aware of the unhappiness of many constituents about this situation. In Parliament I have strongly argued for a change in our relationship with the EU arguing that we must reform our relationship if it is to work for our benefit. I support and will continue to support calls for an in/out referendum and I hope that we can, in due course, beat the opposition parties and their silly games in relation to this issue of crucial importance.
Yours sincerely,
Guto Bebb
Guto Bebb
Aberconwy"