Screaming Hordes of Benefit Tourists
Most Brits out there will probably remember the raving hysteria from the tabloid/right-wing press when the EU expanded to include a few more Eastern European countries, explaining that hordes of "benefit tourists" are getting ready to move to England and claim benefit from the state.
Well, that didn't quite happen (source):
The British Home Office said 133,000 people from the eight new EU countries in eastern Europe signed on to its worker registration scheme between May and December 2004.
Of that total, up to 40 per cent were already in the UK before May 1. Poles made up 56 per cent of the total, followed by Lithuanians and Slovaks. The UK has no figures on how many subsequently returned home.
As for fears of an influx of benefit claimants, the UK tightened up its benefit rules before May 1 2004 and only 21 people from eastern European countries have made successful claims.
Twenty one successful claims for benefit. Wow, I bet the system really felt that blow.
Of course the counter-argument is that the new "tightened benefit rules" are too tight, as I believe you need to be working here for a year before you can successfully claim benefit. This implies that the people who claimed benefit were either already in the country or possibly got a job straight away, and results in a number of people in the impossible situation that they can't get benefit as they can't get a job, but they can't get a job as the Job Centre won't give them personal advise (again, you need to be working for a year to get personal advise) about a country and job market which is alien (as seen on Panorama last week).
It's all screwed up, basically.
NP: Best Of, Toots and The Maytals
