BY BEN KERRIGAN
The BBC live debate between the leave and remain group was expectantly heated.
Mayor of London, Sadik Khan, traded words with former Mayor, Boris Johnson over the allegation of project fear. Khan accused Johnson of running project fear on the issue of immigration, and Johnson accused the same. The debate stayed heated.
It seemed a bit strange that Johnson did not know how many jobs would be lost in the event of a Brexit. However, Johnson’s declaration in the heated BBC E.U debate that Thursday could be the country’s independence day, earned a standing audition from the lively audience.
Johnson claimed Britain was being underestimated in terms of her ability to survive without the E.U. However, the former Mayor has never addressed the warning of economic doom delivered by his former economic adviser, Jeremy. This was raised during the live BBC E.U debate, but Johnson manged to successfuly evade that.
A claim mentioned that households will earn 38 pounds less monthly, sounded negligible. The more acute concern of a Brexit has to be warnings of a recession resulting from several economic shocks.
Predictions of inflated air flight costs, and general cost of living, is worthy of concern. This, more so, if wages remain the same or go down. Sadik Khan pointed out that immigration has culturally and economically been beneficial to this country.
However, he left out the issue of control, something the former Mayor, Boris Johnson was quick to point out. David Camerons past promise to negotiate a deal to control immigration, was not fulfilled. The freedom of movement embodied in E.U laws have seemed inflexible to any opposing compromise.
Hence, the strong ammunition for the Brexit campaigners in this referendum. Stringent laws have been promised to restrict benefits to E.U entrants in the event of a remain. They won’t be able to get benefits for the first 4 years in this country. And most who come here want to work, and do work.
Boris Johnson fought his corner well, showing strong confidence in his position. His issue on controlling immigration is valid, but he forgets that most E.U immigrants are here to work, and their labour contributes to the economy.
This should be enough to clarify that most of those coming in through the E.U, will be contributing to the country’s economy. Those who are not working will not see a benefit in being here if they can’t have benefits. Control measures of some sort will still be necessary, but the benefits of staying in the E.U, outweigh the benefits of going out.
