Baloney Brown and more "Blah, Blah, Blah"

What a disgusting populist and today we have the 'Guardian' reporting that Gordon Brown wants tougher immigration laws. Well, he might just get away with it, after all he is talking about plans to introduce measures that will reduce the number of professions that can recruit from outside Europe. However, how this will benefit the great British worker is debatable and not a debate that I want to pursue here. Nevertheless, there are two other points in the 'Guardian's' report that I would like to pick up on.

Firstly, a review of student visas is intended a review which would logically have as its outcome a reduction in the number of foreign students coming to the United Kingdom. Well, they will be trembling in all the little English Language Units at all the little universities and colleges up and down the country. Does Mr Brown even begin to understand how important the revenue from foreign students is for some colleges and universities and for the flourishing little "English for Academic Purposes" industry that has taken root at most, if not all, universities in particular? Does he know how difficult it already is for all but a select elite to come to the UK to study? Moreover, is he interested in the good will that many of those people take back to their own countries?

Secondly, Brown is saying that, "those from within the EU who incurred a conviction would be kicked out of the country if they received a sentence of twelve months or more." Oh, does this mean that British citizens who have served their sentences in another EU country should now be returned to the UK? Well, Mr Brown I certainly have nothing against putting you and all the other "Westminster Scots" in front of the ICC and then deport you to Scotland after you have sat out your sentences in Wormwood Scrubs. Indeed, I have nothing against you doing your time in Barlinnie or Peterhead. However, it doesn't work like that and you can no more get rid of another EU citizen than you can get rid of a fellow Brit once they have completed their sentence. Indeed, just think of a situation where a German citizen who has lived in the UK for most of his or her life and had family there were deported after serving a sentence in HM prisons.

Of course, as far as the latter point is concerned, Gordon knows he cannot get away with it. Indeed the government's own "probation circular 11/2007" states: "The Directive requires the CCD to show that an EEA National’s conduct represents a ‘present, genuine and sufficiently serious threat’ to society to justify deportation. The fact of having been convicted of an offence is not necessarily sufficient to justify a decision to deport; neither can a person be deported as a general deterrence to others. In addition, the Directive sets out a tiered hierarchy of protection linked to a person’s length of residence in the UK, to be applied before an EEA National can be deported."

Therefore, what we have, at least on the surface, is more huff and puff, from Gordon. Nevertheles, we should all be aware that this particular "little brit" doesn't really care if most other Brits wake up one morning and find that it is almost impossible to get a visa for all of those nice places that they like to go on holiday too and when a few English tutors join the dole queu, that is not his problem either. However, what about the 'probation circular' isn't that the law? Well, yes it is, but then we know that laws can be changed and modified quite easily in the UK. Nevertheless, what we have this time is a UK law, which sees itself as bein in line with with the European Parliament's "Directive 2004/38/EC', we can only expect that any move to change that law in any form will be challenged. Still, Gordon won't care too much about that or anything else for that matter if his "tougher immigration laws" stance, gets him reelected.