EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
The negative reactions provoked by the British government's decision to restrict immigrants' full access to the island's social system are largely unjustified.
Even if we assume that the existence of a "welfare state" in general somehow contributes to the well-being of any society, the one in Britain is literally on the brink and can hardly bear the inclusion of more people.
The amount of redistribution carried out by governments in London over the years has increased from 36.6% of GDP in 2000 to 51% in 2010 – a jump that is largely caused by increases in social benefits. In 2011, the United Kingdom spent 28.1% of the budget on “social protection”, 3.2% on “personal social services”, 17.7% on “health” and 12.5% on “education”. Particularly worrying for politicians is that spending of around 10% of GDP per year cannot be financed by taxes, but is being financed by debt, which is already running at levels of over 70% of GDP.
The British welfare system is notorious for being easily exploited by both incoming foreigners and locals. In recent years, there have been more and more cases of people living comfortably in expensive London neighborhoods, surviving only on benefits for the poor and unemployed. The NHS (the British health system) is extremely easy to access, which creates an incentive to use its services without restrictions - this leads to ever higher costs and longer waits for even the most basic check-ups (it is not uncommon in London to wait a week to see a GP).
In such a situation, it is easy to understand why new immigrants will not receive full access to the social system. There is nothing strange in this, it even shows a certain amount of common sense - after all, someone will have to pay for these people. What we could really be "angry" about British politicians is the ban on Bulgarians working freely in the country. In addition to being one of the many proofs of how the four freedoms in the European Union are only wishful thinking (for another recent example, see the situation in Cyprus), these obstacles harm British employers, local companies and the labor market in general, depriving it of qualified and cheap labor, which, unlike many Britons, is not accustomed to the generous handouts of the "welfare state".
The problem of immigrants who simply come to take advantage of the large state redistribution is present in all Western countries. All kinds of barriers are created to stop or filter the flow of immigrants who have not come to work, but to live on someone else's back. In fact, the solution to getting rid of both this kind of guests and your own parasites is one - to eliminate the system that creates incentives not to work, namely the "welfare state".
