Eu

When oh when will we ever be able to talk about immigration (sensibly)?

I do wish we were never allowed to speak about immigration. That seems the only way to prevent folk from spouting – and writing – rubbish on the subject. But of course there is no conspiracy intent on stifling discussion on immigration. Not even a liberal, metropolitan or elitist conspiracy. Sorry. You can say all the things you think you can’t say. And we know this because many, even most, of them are said all the time. So often, in fact, that they lack novelty. And we also know that no-one really wants to have a conversation about immigration. Conversation would require some back and forth. It might even allow the possibility someone might

Rod Liddle

Horror in the corridors of the Observer

Absolutely fascinating double page spread in The Observer yesterday which suggests that the UK is ‘sleepwalking’ towards an exit from the European Union. My only quibble with the piece is that the source of this narcolepsy was not explained: is it drug induced, or have we perhaps become zombified? Either way, we don’t know what we are doing, according to The Observer. This is the usual recourse of the left when the rest of the country makes the grotesque mistake of thinking differently to what the bien pensants want. The feature was based upon a poll which suggested that only 14 per cent of Brits consider themselves ‘European’, which is

Ground control to Major John

Sir John Major was beginning to make a habit of embarrassing Downing Street: by suggesting windfall taxes on energy companies and denouncing private school cliques. But he was on his best behaviour last night at the Institute of Directors’ annual dinner. He praised Cameron and Osborne for their ‘brave policy’, adding that their ‘unpopular policy’ had ‘been proved to be right’. He slammed Alex Salmond and the SNP. So far so good; but, when it came to Europe, the old dog reverted to being decidedly ‘unsound’. He believes that the EU would suffer if we were to leave (which is not something that overly concerns Eurosceptics): ‘Of course, we would survive

Net migration is bogus. Gross migration is what affects communities

Just over half a million people migrated to the UK in the year to June. And half a million the year before – actually, it was 517,000, but let’s not quibble. A million, then, in two years…that’s quite something. But you wouldn’t have known from the news about the new immigration stats from the Home Office, which focussed instead on a rise in net migration to 182,000 (ie the number of people arriving, less the number of Brits leaving). Now, for all the noise about Bulgarians and Romanians coming to Britain, about half the new immigrants were from outside the EU – 242,000, down from 282,000 the previous year. You’d never think

Alex Massie

Scotland and the EU: Mariano Rajoy should just jog on.

It’s bad enough being lectured by politicians from Edinburgh or even London. That, I suppose, is to be expected however. Irritating but normal. It’s rather different when foreigners – real foreigners – decide to interfere in our own constitutional rammy. It smacks of impertinence. When that intervention comes from the leader – to put it in Sun-speak – of a nation of donkey-slaying, rock-coveting bankrupts it’s even less respectable. So the suggestion made yesterday by Mariano Rajoy, Prime Minister of what we still call Spain, that an independent Scotland would, by creating a new country, need to reapply for EU membership is hackle-raising stuff. You’re tempted to reply jog on, pal. Of course

David Cameron: The tide of ideas and opinion is going in my direction on EU reform

David Cameron’s restrictions on welfare for new migrants have pleased Tory backbenchers – but not enough for them to drop their Commons campaign for the transitional immigration controls to be extended. There are now 46 Conservative MPs signed up to support it, and I’ve just spoken to Nigel Mills, who tabled the amendment, who said: ‘The Prime Minister’s announcements are welcome steps in the right direction. However the issues with our current levels of unemployment and pressures on other public services would not be tackled so I still believe we need to keep the restrictions in place, and so I will still proceed with my amendment.’ Labour is briefing that

Nick Boles: how to deport jobless EU immigrants

From Fraser Nelson: David Cameron proposing delaying welfare payments to EU immigrants – which some might see as his listening more to Lynton Crosby and less to the likes of modernisers like Nick Boles (whose approach to politics Bruce Anderson critiques below). But Boles has advocated going far further: deporting EU immigrants who don’t work. He believes he has found a clause in EU law that allows it. Given that Boles is generally seen as an uber-moderniser,  I thought Coffee Housers may be interested in seeing another side to his political thought –  a deportation plan which is further than most right-wing Tory MPs would go.  The below is abridged from

Who was surprised by the Mail’s immigration poll?

Was any one actually surprised by the splash on immigration in yesterday’s Daily Mail? Its poll (of 1,027 people by Harris/Daily Mail) suggests that nearly two thirds of people think that immigration since 2004 has not been good for British society; eight in ten think that 176,000 net immigration last year was too much; and nearly eight in ten think that the public has not been consulted adequately about the effect of immigration on the population. Actually given that the last question was framed thus: ‘Since 1997, immigration has added 2.5 million to the population. Has the public been adequately consulted about this change?’ it’s surprising that only 79 per cent

Renewable costs on bills to double due to European target

As officials try to meet the Prime Minister’s promise to roll back the ‘green levies’ and cut the ‘green crap’, lots of attention has focused on the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), the Coalition’s flagship energy efficiency policy. Its aim is to improve the state of the UK’s woeful housing stock and to reduce the amount of heating people use. The scheme is far from perfect. It offers too many subsidies to expensive measures like solid wall insulation, rather than much cheaper ones, such as loft insulation. Also, it has yet to show support for charity incentives that show people how to use less energy. But the general ambition is right. The

There’s no point in just outsourcing our CO2 emissions

The global warming question is back on the political agenda with David Cameron likening cutting greenhouse gas emissions to house insurance. His argument is that if there’s a risk that they may be harmful, you want to guard against it. But given that ‘global warming’ is no respected of national boundaries, one thing that isn’t sensible is to simply send energy intensive industries and their jobs and profits overseas. But this is just what the EU is doing, according to Bjørn Lomborg. He reports that: ‘From 1990 to 2008, the EU cut its emissions by about 270 million metric tons of CO2. But it turns out that the increase in

Ireland’s back, and luck had nothing to do with it

My man in Dublin calls with joy in his voice to tell me ‘the Troika’ — the combined powers of the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF — have signed off Ireland as fit to leave their bailout programme and return to economic self-determination. This is a remarkable turnaround in just three years since I visited the Irish capital in the midst of rescue talks — to find a nation in shock, staring at an €85 billion emergency loan facility that equated to €20,000 per citizen, a collapsing banking system and a landscape scarred by delusional, never-to-be-finished property developments. In the special Irish way, almost everyone I spoke to

Visar Arifaj is Kosovo’s answer to Borat and Beppe Grillo – only funny

Kosovo held regional elections over the weekend…and it rather looks as if the Serbs in the north of the country, in Mitrovica, stayed away in droves, notwithstanding the instructions from Belgrade that they should participate in the elections. The Serbian government stance is in turn dictated by Coffee Housers’ favourite EU politician, Britain’s own Cathy Ashton. She has intimated that Serbia’s bid to join the EU will depend on its support for the elections, which in turn is linked to the implementation of her EU plan for a Serbia-Kosovo deal. While I was in Pristina I met someone who was involved in the talks that led to the plan, and his assessment was that

What to do about the EU? Work with Germany

As the British Parliament continues deliberating the EU Referendum Bill, it’s worth reflecting on the relationship between the UK and Germany: It could determine the future direction of the whole European Union. David Cameron made a big speech on the EU at the start of the year and there was much in it that centre-right politicians in Berlin could agree with. His five principles of wanting more competitiveness, flexibility, a rebalancing of powers between nation states and Brussels, democratic accountability and fairness had particular resonance. And what was especially appreciated, and came across in his speech, was his genuine desire to work with like-minded partners to help reshape the European

Perfidious Brussels

The European Commission, having done nothing about recent Spanish sabre rattling over the self-determination of Gibraltar, has launched a full investigation into the Gibraltarian tax system. And who heads up the department that has launched this EU investigation? Señor Almunia. And what country does he come from? Have a guess.

EU red tape push will give Cameron cover for renegotiation

The government’s business taskforce will give a presentation today to Cabinet on its report on slashing EU regulation. David Cameron has already indicated that he will support the 30 recommendations in the report, compiled by M&S chief executive Marc Bolland, Kingfisher chief executive Ian Cheshire, ATG Access managing director Glenn Cooper, BTG chief executive Louise Makin, entrepreneur Dale Murray and Diageo boss Paul Walsh. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has said that he will look to resolve complaints about legislation burdening companies, and Cameron sees this as an important way of showing that Britain can lead on making the case for reform in the European Union as a whole.

Britain’s stated aim of getting Turkey to join the EU is mad

Rather to my embarrassment, I find that I missed last night’s episode of the BBC2 three-part series on The Ottomans, Europe’s Muslim Conquerors, in which I briefly featured. So Heaven knows what I actually said in it; it’s been a while since filming. But I’m rather hoping that the point I wanted to get across did, viz, that it’s nuts, barking mad, insane, away with the fairies, for Britain to be agitating for Turkey to be part of the EU. On David Cameron’s last visit to Turkey in 2010, he expressed anger at the delay in Turkey’s admission to the Union and blamed opponents for playing on fears of Islam

The Lampedusa hypocrisy: Italy prefers its migrants dead on arrival

Italy has held a day of national mourning in memory of those who died in the 3 October disaster off Lampedusa. The victims – mostly from Eritrea, Somalia and Syria – were given Italian citizenship posthumously and are now – it was announced yesterday – to be honoured at a state funeral. The desire of the Italian government to salve its conscience following the fire and shipwreck that cost an estimated 250 lives is understandable. But such measures are grotesque and will only reinforce the idea, among would-be refugees and their advocates, that a dead migrant is preferable – at least in the eyes of the receiving country – to a live one. Will the Italian authorities, I wonder,

The green taxes that add £112 to your energy bill

At PMQs yesterday David Cameron said Ed Miliband was suffering ‘complete amnesia’ over his time as energy secretary. Ed might have forgotten some of his climate change policies that put money on your energy bills – but it doesn’t matter – they might not be around for long. As James Forsyth said at the weekend, George Osborne wants to get rid of some of them in his autumn statement. The Department of Energy and Climate Change says there are seven green taxes that put £112 on the average energy bill in 2013, making up just under a tenth of the total. What are they, and which of them is cost-of-living warrior Ed Miliband responsible

Why Britain’s economy will overtake Germany’s

What’s the most surprising thing that could come out of the current economic upturn? A rapid revival in northern manufacturing? The City really getting behind small British businesses? Ed Balls admitting higher public spending wasn’t always the best way to promote growth? Any of these eventualities would be fairly amazing. But the biggest surprise would perhaps be this: a gradual realisation that the UK is on track to become the largest economy in Europe. In the 19th century, at the height of the industrial revolution, the UK outproduced all of its European competitors. It steadily lost that position, however, ceding industrial leadership to the Germans and the French. In the

Piggies in the middle: why we need to have confidence in our food labelling systems

Just 9 months after the horsemeat scandal revealed that products labelled as beef did, in fact, contain horsemeat, one might have expected the food standards authority to have cracked down on food labelling – particularly when it comes to meat. But in an investigation broadcast earlier this week by the BBC’s Farming Today programme, a reporter bought a pork chop ‘at random’ from Tesco. It was labelled with the ‘Red Tractor’ logo, which ought to mean that it ‘is fully traceable back to independently inspected farms in the UK’. However, lab tests showed that the meat probably came from a Dutch farm – in fact there’s less than a 1%