[Northern Monkey]

Originally Posted by Twosugars

We won't have that much choice after sticking our bum at the EU.
Our negotiating position will be very poor.
That's where being in a block makes sense.
And how do you explain the UK government has been unable to control the non-EU immigration all these years? What gives you the confidence they'll be able to control it bc we left the EU?

Not to mention losing the freedom of working and living all over Europe.
EU immigration is only temporary anyway. As the Eastern European countries get richer and catch up with the West the movement will cease. It may even reverse. But Britain won't take advantage of that, sadly.

I wouldn’t say our governments were UNABLE to control non-EU immigration but more unwilling.
The immigration issue only came to major prominence when the numbers had increased massively giving rise to the BNP.That’s when the government started listening as they were worried about the prospect of the far right gaining popularity(and wanted to gain public support).
Blair and Brown basically had an almost open door policy.
If it had have been sensibly controlled earlier on then it wouldn’t be such an issue today.