ALL MIGRANTS TO GET A BRITISH PENSION

Employment Minister Chris Grayling

Monday May 7,2012

By Martyn Brown

BRITAIN faces paying pensions to all migrants under an EU plot to seize control of the benefits system.

It would allow people who have never worked in this country to claim welfare and retirement cash.

But critics last night warned Brussels to expect a battle against any such attempt to “bypass our rights”.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: “The Government takes the very firm view there should be no opening up of our welfare system to people coming from abroad who do not intend to work and contribute to British society.

“Our arrangements are for Britain to decide, not Brussels. I’m not happy with the way that the EU is behaving.

“Europe should not be negotiating social security deals on our behalf. That’s why we’re going through the courts to stop them.”

The “worrying” move emerged as Eurocrats prepare to sign a deal with Turkey, which wants to join the EU, and which could give its 75 million ­citizens full access to European nations’ social security payments.

Europe should not be negotiating social security deals on our behalf

Employment Minister Chris Grayling

Ministers fear the controversial move will lead to a string of welfare deals with countries outside the EU, which this country would be powerless to resist.

And it means benefits such as pensions and health care could be handed out to all immigrants, even if they have never contributed taxes to Britain.

Brussels believes the pact will “enhance the special relationship with Turkey” and “permit Turkey to align its policies on social security co-ordination with those of the EU in preparation for future accession”.

The deal would not immediately open the door to large numbers of new Turkish welfare claimants, because Britain already has a treaty with Turkey dating from 1961 which gives some access to social security benefits.

But officials are concerned that once Brussels has grabbed power over benefits eligibility rights could later be extended and given to citizens of other countries to claim here without ­British consent. Tory ministers are concerned this would add millions of pounds to the welfare bill, harm attempts to cut the deficit and encourage benefit tourists to exploit Britain’s generous social security system. This includes the basic state pension of £107.45 a week.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “If they are allowed to get away with these plans then the British government will not be able to stop who lives off our own taxpayers.”

Tory MP Priti Patel said: “All British taxpayers should be deeply concerned about this. It demonstrates the extent of their erosion of British sovereignty.”

The Department for Work and ­Pensions is also angry at what it sees as underhand tactics used by the European Commission to bypass government consent.

The Lisbon Treaty gave Britain the choice to opt in or out of agreements between Brussels and non-EU countries. However, the commission is trying to force through the deal using another part of the treaty that is usually used to govern relations between member states.

DWP sources said Brussels was pursuing an attempt to “bypass our rights”, “seize control” of pensions and benefits rights and encroach further on British sovereignty.

“We should have the right to decide whether to opt in or not to these agreements, but the way the EU is putting them together stops us exercising this right,” said a senior source.

The revelation will fuel support for the Daily Express’s massively popular crusade to get Britain out of the EU.

Last week this newspaper revealed how the “Berlin group” of European nations headed by Germany and France wishes take away much of the UK’s sovereign power. It has drawn up plans for merging the jobs currently done by Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.

The Government has already started a legal battle to stop the EU e­xtending its power, taking a case to the European Court to stop similar deals with Switzerland and Norway.

Last night the European Commission denied it was trying to harmonise social security systems, saying the deal would mean migrant workers were not put at a financial disadvantage when moving between states.

“None of this means anyone, wherever they are from, can just pitch up in the UK and claim benefits. For non- EU citizens, working or not, the UK decides who to let in and for how long and whether to recognise them as resident,” said a commission spokesman.

“What this proposal does is simplify administrative arrangements for the governments concerned.”

FRENCH AND GREEKS DEAL DOUBLE BLOW TO AUSTERITY MEASURES

Tuesday May 8 2012 by Padraic Flanagan

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EUROPE'S austerity plans were under severe pressure last night after French and Greek voters delivered a decisive rejection of job cuts and tax rises.

France elected a new president committed to an economic recovery more focused on growth, while Greek politics were left in disarray by an across-the-board thumbs down for savage Brussels-imposed cuts in return for huge bail-outs.

President Francois Hollande was warned by Germany that there was no question of unpicking an EU austerity-based “fiscal treaty” agreed last year.

And the European Commission said that Greece – once it finds a workable coalition government – was expected to stick to the strict austerity commitments it made in return for continued funding from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

A challenge to EU belt-tightening priorities was a central plank of Mr Hollande’s election campaign, and this has raised tensions in Berlin and in Brussels, while the failure in Greece of any party to win more than 20 per cent of the vote reinforced the problems of making austerity stick.

They both look forward to working very closely together in the future

A Downing Street spokesman

The outcome of both elections made markets wobble, with Greek shares down about 6 per cent amid concerns that the odds on Greece leaving the euro were rising.

Another Greek election looks likely, but even if the country does manage to form a government it will feel obliged to reflect voter anger and reject the current scale of austerity measures.

David Cameron spoke to Mr Hollande by phone soon after the new president had won the poll on the back of his attacks on the austerity plans driven by German’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “They both look forward to working very closely together in the future.” But relations with Paris will depend on how far Mr Hollande goes in trying to switch the EU economic emphasis from austerity to sustainable jobs and growth.

Former EU commissioner Lord Mandelson said he expected Mr Hollande and Mrs Merkel to mount a renewed push for greater EU integration to shore up the eurozone.

He said: “I think that both from Mr Hollande and Mrs Merkel you are going to see the top priority being stopping the eurozone from splitting.”

And he added as a warning: “Should Greece leave the eurozone I think it would put a question mark over the risk of market contagion and panic spreading from Greece to other countries.”

EU PLOT TO SCRAP BRITAIN

Britain will run from Brussels if Van Rompuy is replaced by a super EU president

Friday May 4,2012

By Macer Hall EXCLUSIVE

 Have your say(43)

SENIOR Eurocrats are secretly plotting to create a super-powerful EU president to realise their dream of abolishing ­Britain, we can reveal.

A covert group of EU foreign ministers has drawn up plans for merging the jobs currently done by Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.

The new bureaucrat, who would not be directly elected by voters, is set to get sweeping control over the entire EU and force member countries into ever-greater political and economic union. 


European Council President Herman Van Rompuy at an EU summit

Tellingly, the UK has been excluded from the confidential discussions within the shady “Berlin Group” of Europhile politicians, spearheaded by German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle.

This is a truly ridiculous idea that must never be allowed to happen

Euro-MP Paul Nuttall, of the UK Independence Party

Opponents fear the plan could create a modern-day equivalent of the European emperor envisaged by Napoleon Bonaparte or a return to the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne that dominated Europe in the Dark Ages. 

They are concerned that David Cameron’s coalition Government is doing nothing to prevent the sinister plot. The secret talks were uncovered by Independent Labour peer Lord Stoddart of Swindon.

“This is a plot by people who want to abolish nation states and create a United States of Europe,” he said. 

“The whole thing is barmy. These people are determined to achieve their final objective.

“The only hope for Britain is to leave the EU and become an independent nation.”

The move will give further momentum to the Daily Express’s hugely popular crusade for Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and David Cameron

Tory backbench MP Douglas Carswell said: “It doesn’t matter how you arrange the offices of these technocrats, they are useless at arranging our lives for us and they are not elected so they have no legitimacy.

“My worry is that the president will end up having the charisma of Van Rompuy and the economic management skills of Barroso.”

Euro-MP Paul Nuttall, of the UK Independence Party, said: “This is a truly ridiculous idea that must never be allowed to happen. It sounds as if they are trying to go back to the days of the Holy Roman Emperor.”

At present, the two senior EU bureaucrats, Mr Barroso and Mr Van Rompuy, are locked in a bitter power struggle to determine who is the true big cheese or “grand fromage” in Europe. Former Portuguese premier Mr Barroso, who heads the EU’s executive arm and was elected to his post by members of the European Union, is understood to resent the rival fiefdom of Belgian Mr Van Rompuy, who was chosen by the heads of ­government of EU member states to represent them.

Under the plan, a single figure would be elected by Euro-MPs to perform both roles.

Supporters of the move believe that the rival presidencies are undermining the EU’s ability to speak with a single voice. They argue that merging the two jobs will create a powerful European leader who is capable of pursuing the federalist dream of a united Europe which has been severely shaken by the eurozone crisis.

Lord Stoddart confirmed the existence of the plot thanks to a parliamentary written answer in the House of Lords. He asked Foreign Office ministers to reveal what they knew about the merger talks.

In response to his inquiry, Tory Foreign Office minister Lord Howell of Guildford said: “We are aware of one group of EU foreign ministers meeting on an informal basis to discuss a variety of issues related to the future governance of the EU.


Merkel and Sarkozy have built a strong relationship

“While the UK is not part of that group, we understand that one idea under discussion is a merger of the positions of president of the European Council and president of the European Commission.”

Lord Howell added: “A merger of the two presidencies would create a potential conflict of interest, undermine the quality of the EU’s decision-making processes and upset the institutional balance within the EU.” Lord Stoddart said: “These sorts of informal discussions within the EU have a habit of rapidly being transferred into formal proposals.

“Since the Government is not party to these discussions, its reservations are academic.

“Such a merger would represent a massive shift of power into the hands of a single, unelected bureaucrat. The Government should be taking this far more seriously and voicing its objections very strongly.”

He added: “The holder of this new office would be both Europe’s political and administrative leader, giving them far more powers than those given to the US president.

“It really is a great disappointment that we have a Conservative-led Government that is supposed to be Eurosceptic yet ministers just go along with this.”

£43M IN BENEFITS GOES TO CHEATS WHO LIVE ABROAD

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith

Monday April 16,2012

By Martyn Brown

 Have your say(9)

MINISTERS will unleash a new blitz on benefit fraud today to stamp out cheats who claim state handouts while living abroad.

Scams that cost the taxpayer about £43million last year included claimants failing to report they had moved abroad.

Relatives also continued to claim benefits for people who had died.

Other fraudsters claimed cash while working overseas, exaggerated disabilities or failed to report assets, including savings, property or even yachts.

Overseas benefit fraud hotspots include Spain, Portugal and the US, but cases have also been traced to Thailand and Sweden.

Britons living overseas can still claim some benefits, including their state pension.

Sickness and disability allowances can also be claimed, depending on individual circumstances and whether your stay abroad is temporary or permanent.

But Disability Living Allowance, Pension Credit, Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance cannot be claimed abroad.

The vast majority of British people overseas are law abiding

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith

The latest crackdown will see officials from the Department for Work and Pensions working more closely with the Foreign Office, bank staff and overseas fraud investigators. It is part of efforts to slash Britain’s multi-billion- pound welfare bill and help reduce the Government’s debt mountain.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith said: “We are determined to clamp down on benefit fraud abroad, which cost the British taxpayer around £43million last year. This money should be going to the people who need it most and not lining the pockets of criminals sunning themselves overseas.

“The vast majority of British people overseas are law abiding, but fraudulently claiming benefits while living abroad is a crime and we are committed to stopping it.”

Emma Boon of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “The Government has to get tough on benefits cheats who scam the system and steal from taxpayers.

“It beggars belief that the system was in such a mess that people have managed to get away with claiming benefits for the dead.”

£42M BENEFIT BILL FOR CHILDREN WHO DON’T EVEN LIVE IN BRITAIN

Critics fear the bonanza could wreck David Cameron’s pledge to cut annual net immigration

Wednesday April 4,2012

By Macer Hall

BUMPER welfare handouts have made Britain an “extrem­ely attractive destination” for migrants from eastern Europe, a scathing report on the benefit system warned last night.

Research showed that foreign workers from within the EU can potentially pocket hundreds of pounds a week from a string of benefits as soon as they arrive in the UK.

Latest figures show around £42million a year in child benefit payments is handed out to migrant families whose children do not even live in Britain.

Critics fear the bonanza could wreck David Cameron’s pledge to cut annual net immigration from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands.

The role that Britain’s benefits system – hugely generous by international standards – has on encouraging mass immigration was laid bare in a report from the population think-tank MigrationWatch.

Researchers pointed out that while newcomers are not immediately entitled to claim jobless benefits they can still pocket extra income from child, housing and council tax benefit as well as the tax credit system.With the sums paid out dwarfing average wages in Poland and other new EU nations, the welfare system was providing a huge incentive for migrants to target Britain.

The whole EU benefit regime must be renegotiated

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch

The report showed that a single immigrant worker earning the minimum wage can expect up to £70 a week in benefits.

An immigrant family of four with both adults working can grab up to £360 a week, equal to £18,720 in a year.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, said last night: “The whole EU benefit regime must be renegotiated.

“It is entirely understandable that east Europeans should want to improve their standard of living and make money which they can send home. It is also clear that many of them are valued for their strong work ethic.

“That said, it was a very serious mistake to extend full access to our benefit system to nationals of member states where the standard of living is only about one third of ours.

“This must be changed. We even pay child benefit at British rates to children who have never set foot in this country.”

Anne Main, Tory MP for St Albans, said: “If we expand benefits to people who have not paid into the system it is going to mean more and more tax for those who are paying in.

“I don’t blame people for seeking a better life for themselves and their families, but if this goes on it will have a negative impact on taxpayers.”

Around 750,000 arrivals from Poland, Lithuania and other former eastern bloc countries now in the EU could be followed by even more as these countries struggle with difficult economic conditions, the report said.

Restrictions on benefit claims for the countries that joined the EU in 2004 ended last year, giving hundreds of thousands of immigrants full access to Britain’s welfare state.

“The issue is that the much more generous UK benefit system to which they are now entitled might attract even larger numbers,” said the report.

“A Polish worker on minimum wage in Britain with a spouse and two children earns almost four times what he would get on the minimum wage at home, once the difference in cost of living has been accounted for.”

Analysis showed that the same worker who saved a fifth of his pay packet would be putting aside the equivalent of a week’s earnings back home.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We have a legal duty to provide support to people who come to this country. However, it is also necessary to protect the taxpayer and the benefit system from possible abuse.

“We need to make sure that the rules do not allow people to take inappropriate advantage of our benefit system.”

BARONESS ASHTON'S LOOK FOR £150K

Baroness Ashton

Monday April 2,2012

By Daily Express reporter

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SENIOR Eurocrat Baroness Ashton has hired a £150,000-a-year media adviser to try to improve her disastrous public image, it emerged last night.

The EU foreign affairs supremo is understood to have recruited Danish- born international relations expert Daniel Korski for the post.

But the move yesterday triggered fresh anger about the waste oftaxpayers’ cash by Brussels.

UK Independence Party Euro-MP Paul Nuttall said: “This is a disgrace. The EU already spends more than £8million a year on media relations.”

Former Labour peer Baroness Ashton has suffered widespread criticism since being appointed just over two years ago.

Many critics say the job – effectively the EU’s foreign secretary – is unnecessary and have questioned her competence.

To Mr Daniel Korski, I would say two words .... Mission Impossible

DAVID CAMERON 'UNWISE' OVER EU

David Cameron's handling of the eurozone crisis is expected to be condemned as “inconsistent"

Monday April 2,2012

By Macer Hall

 Have your say(11)

DAVID Cameron’s handling of the eurozone crisis is expected to be condemned as “inconsistent” and “profoundly unwise” in a report from MPs tomorrow.

In a verdict that confirms growing frustration among backbench Tories, the Commons European Scrutiny Committee will argue the Government lacks a strategy for protecting Britain’s interests in Europe.

It will also raise doubts about the Prime Minister’s motives in blocking a treaty for closer ties between eurozone countries. Earlier this year, Tory MPs cheered him for standing up to the EU over the new treaty plans at a Brussels summit.

But now many suspect the veto was meaningless and he is allowing French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to create a “fiscal union” that will leave the UK isolated.

A draft of the report leaked yesterday said: “The Government has made clear that it has reservations about the legality of what has been done, but the question of what it intends to do remains unsatisfactorily unresolved.

Politically and legally, it is profoundly unwise to suggest taking action

Report

“Politically and legally, it is profoundly unwise to suggest taking action, and then not to explain how it intends to carry it through.”

Shock & Horror! looks like Mr Farage was right.