Former trade minister Lord Digby Jones of Birmingham has entered the European immigration controversy in an outspoken speach. Lthough he is a businessman and not a party politician, his thoughts will certainly heat up the debate.
Basic English skills
Speaking in Leicester, he said it was “mad” to allow so many EU citizens to seek work in Britain when they couldn’t speak basic English.
“I can’t see why if I find a computer expert in Auckland, New Zealand or a video games expert from Vancouver, they cannot come to my country, build a career, bring their families and pay tax. They speak English. But what’s now being said is ‘No they can’t',” he told business leaders.
“But if you come from Latvia or Slovenia, and you don’t speak English and you’ve no intention of integrating, then it’s ‘Come on in, pal. You’re in the European Union. You can do it.’… We must be mad,” he added.
........ He told business leaders in Leicester: “Do you know that more Indians died on D-Day than Frenchmen? Jamaicans, Canadians, Australians died in their thousands so we could be free. And now we say you’re not welcome.
“But if you are from anywhere in the European Union, we just say ‘come on in’. I say they are welcome but only if they speak English, want to integrate and work hard. Because that’s what my nation stands for.
http://www.immigrationmatters.co.uk/7664.html
Originally Posted by grahamw48
so it looks doubtful anything will get done in the near future.
