Brexit Will Lower Wages 225


It has surprised the naïve that in the last two weeks Tory ministers have been lining up to assure employers that there will be no reduction in the flow of immigrant workers into
the UK after Brexit.

There are two things that infuriate me about the “left wing” argument that EU immigration lowers wages in the UK through importing labour. Firstly it is not left wing at all, it is narrowly nationalist and founded on the protectionist premise that the condition of the worker in say Poland – who would benefit both from opportunities in the UK and from international labour competition elevating wages there – does not matter. The “left wing” proponents of the protected national labour market are actually just ill-disguised racists.

The second criticism of these “left-wing” people is that they are extremely stupid. Anybody who believes that the plutocrat paymasters of UKIP, the Tories and the corporate press, supported Brexit in order to raise wages, is certifiable.

That is why the Tories are making plain there will be no reduction in the labour supply from the EU. That will keep coming. But there will be one essential difference.

EU workers will no longer be in the UK as fellow EU citizens with exactly the same rights as UK EU citizens. In future, the EU workers will be here on work visas, probably two or five year renewable. These will be awarded through sponsorship by their employer. That will put them at the absolute mercy of employers and make them terrified of complaint or even standing against gross abuse and illegality. The conditions at the Sports Direct warehouse will seem good compared to what is coming in workplaces throughout the UK, once people like Mike Ashley can simply have “troublemakers” instantly deported.

All workers will of course lose more formal rights and protections, like the maximum working week and strict health and safety regulation. EU citizens in the UK will also lose the citizen’s right of address by political participation and voting.

Brexit will lower wages. It will be the biggest license to exploit ever handed back to predatory capitalists, at a time when the wealth gap between the super rich and the poor is at its widest, and notions of social responsibility among the wealthy at their weakest.

Brexit is a disaster for the working woman and man. Yet so many of the so-called “left” are too blind to see it.


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225 thoughts on “Brexit Will Lower Wages

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  • michael norton

    Good news for re-newable jobs, Crystal Rig to become biggest onshore wind facility in The United Kingdom.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Rig_Wind_Farm

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-39144321

    A fourth phase of a wind farm straddling the boundary between the Borders and East Lothian is being considered.

    It would take the total number of turbines at Crystal Rig in the Lammermuir Hills to over 100.

    A briefing note on the latest proposal for a further 11 turbines has been submitted to Scottish Borders Council.

    Developers Fred Olsen Renewables said it was an “ideal location” to help meet renewable energy targets.

    It said that by the “careful and well thought out design” of the proposed extension it would not add significantly to the “visual presence” of the turbines.

    When the original 25-turbine Crystal Rig development became operational in 2003 it was the largest onshore wind farm in Scotland.

  • michael norton

    Looks like the economy of The United Kingdom is doing O.K.

    Hammond gets budget boost as OECD upgrades United Kingdom growth forecast

    United Kingdom expected to grow faster than thought in 2017 but chancellor urged to support jobs amid fears over inflation and house prices
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/07/budget-2017-philip-hammond-oecd-upgrades-uk-growth

    so Brexit is not slowing us down, unlike France which is in a shit load of trouble according to Juppe

    • michael norton

      Having accused Lord Pannick of a “hidden agenda” over his proposed amendment, the ex-Cabinet minister later told his fellow peer: “I have to say to the noble Lord, we know what he’s up to and we know what is going on here.”

      He added: “I appreciate that I’m a minority in this House not just because I’m a Scottish Tory.

      “I’m in a minority in this House because I support the views of the majority of people in this country.

      “This House is absolutely full of people who still haven’t come to terms with the results of the referendum and this is a clever lawyers confection in order to reverse the results of the referendum.

      “That is what we are debating and that is what it’s about.”

  • michael norton

    Ms. Miller, a partner in an investment management firm, was the lead claimant in the legal fight to get Parliament to vote on whether the UK could start the process of leaving the EU

    She is so rich
    Brexit will not hurt her lifestyle, one way or the other.

    The democratic voice of the voters of The United Kingdom must be followed
    or democracy falls to the will of the Liberal Elite.

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