Alistair Darling, the man with the two-tone head, today announced that he would be limiting immigration into the UK from the next two countries to join the EU, Bulgaria and Romania.
Tory terrier Damian Green has been calling for curbs, though god knows why. The Tories are supposed to be the party of business and low taxes. Immigrants help to maintain both.
As Sir Digby Jones investigated in his excellent documentary for C4 last week, far from taking jobs from British people, the Polish invasion has brought businesss to the UK, stabilised interest rates and helped with pensions.
We have about half-a-million Poles working in the UK, paying taxes for services like schools that they do not use and paying into a state pension scheme they will never claim.
They are filling jobs that under-educated or just lazy Brits refuse to do. They are reknowned already for the quality of their work and the versatility of their skills knowledge.
They make British workers looks unskilled and lazy - while paying contributions to keep them in dole money.
The UK and Ireland were the only countries in the EU to give unfettered access to accession countries in 2004. Both countried have reaped the benefits.
But soon Germany, France and the rest will be opening their doors to the Poles. We could lose these vital workers, who are filling gap in demand in our economy, to other nations.
The filling of gaps may sound small beer, but in fact that flexibility keeps the economy moving and not stopping and starting. The reason that Gordon Brown's economy continues to grow is down to allowing Poles and others to access UK job markets.
At just the moment when those Poles have an opportunity to leave, we are restricting the arrival of their replacements.
It is interesting to see how the macro-economic landscape can be affected by what appear unrelated political decisions.
I just wish Alistair Darling had the balls to stand up to the fear mongers at the Daily Mail and celebrate what the eastern Europeans have done for our economy, instead of recycling the timid racism of the mid market tabloids.
Tory terrier Damian Green has been calling for curbs, though god knows why. The Tories are supposed to be the party of business and low taxes. Immigrants help to maintain both.
As Sir Digby Jones investigated in his excellent documentary for C4 last week, far from taking jobs from British people, the Polish invasion has brought businesss to the UK, stabilised interest rates and helped with pensions.
We have about half-a-million Poles working in the UK, paying taxes for services like schools that they do not use and paying into a state pension scheme they will never claim.
They are filling jobs that under-educated or just lazy Brits refuse to do. They are reknowned already for the quality of their work and the versatility of their skills knowledge.
They make British workers looks unskilled and lazy - while paying contributions to keep them in dole money.
The UK and Ireland were the only countries in the EU to give unfettered access to accession countries in 2004. Both countried have reaped the benefits.
But soon Germany, France and the rest will be opening their doors to the Poles. We could lose these vital workers, who are filling gap in demand in our economy, to other nations.
The filling of gaps may sound small beer, but in fact that flexibility keeps the economy moving and not stopping and starting. The reason that Gordon Brown's economy continues to grow is down to allowing Poles and others to access UK job markets.
At just the moment when those Poles have an opportunity to leave, we are restricting the arrival of their replacements.
It is interesting to see how the macro-economic landscape can be affected by what appear unrelated political decisions.
I just wish Alistair Darling had the balls to stand up to the fear mongers at the Daily Mail and celebrate what the eastern Europeans have done for our economy, instead of recycling the timid racism of the mid market tabloids.
