The Prime Minister made clear in his speech on EU renegotiation today that he wishes to
“reduce the current very high level of migration from within the EU into the UK “
The Prime Minister’s travels to secure agreement to his proposals for renegotiation last week (22 January 2016) took him to the Czech Republic. As the BBC reported
Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka rejected Mr Cameron’s proposals for a four-year ban on in-work benefits. But…
Having binned the turkey, as negotiations continue, the Mail reports today (15 January) that “Germany has offered David Cameron a deal that would see EU citizens who earn only the minimum wage denied state handouts.”
Now that some actual data has been released about the number of recent arrivals from elsewhere in the EU claiming tax credits, and we know something too about the deal on the renegotiating table, there’s the basis for very rough estimation of what money might be saved by the proposed…
Entitlement to social security benefits provided by EU Regulation 883/2004 is clear - the conditions for these cannot discriminate directly or indirectly against workers from other member states. This has been reiterated any number of times by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Whatever the actual scope of the restrictions proposed on in-work benefits, and whether they now apply only to some tax credits (rather than the manifesto-promised child benefit too), it’s interesting to look at what the draft Decision says about the circumstances in which such restrictions…
In promising changes to the UK’s relationship with the EU, the Conservative Manifesto 2015 talked about tax credits and child benefit and access to social housing.
We will insist that EU migrants who want to claim tax credits and…
Following on from my previous thoughts on this, the Prime Minister interviewed earlier today on the Sky News 3pm bulletin (Friday 29 January) was explicit about the benefits issue. It’s “about cutting immigration” he said.