UK curbs on immigrants are illegal, warns EU

Written by Andy Jalil 

By Andy Jalil – Foreign Correspondent — David Cameron’s latest plan to cap the number of EU workers holding jobs in the UK would break EU rules — and those rules are not likely to change to suit the UK, Europe’s highest ranking official, Jose Manuel Barroso, warned. He added that one of the EU’s fundamental principles is the right of its citizens to seek work anywhere in the EU, which David Cameron had himself insisted on when it affected the rights of people from Gibraltar to cross the border into Spain to find work.

“Any kind of arbitrary cap seems to me to be not in conformity with the European rules, because for us it’s very important — the principle of non-discrimination. The freedom of movement is a very important principle in the internal market — movement of goods, of capital, of services and of people,” he told the BBC.

He added: “Unemployment has been one of the lowest in the last years in Britain, so in fact I don’t think we can credibly say that there is a huge problem of migration.”

Hung parliament ‘would hurt economy’
Britain’s economy could suffer a “huge uncertainty shock” if next year’s general election delivers a hung parliament, a leading economic forecaster warned.
The prospect of no clear winner when Britain heads to the polling booths in May is already pushing down next year’s growth and business investment predictions, according to the EY Item Club’s autumn forecast.
It also cites the weakening euro zone economy and geopolitical tensions, including the Ukraine crisis, as threats making businesses nervous.
The Item Club predicts that business investment growth will slow sharply next year, from 9 per cent in 2014 to 5.8 per cent in 2015.
That will hamper economic growth, tipped to fall from 3.1 per cent this year to 2.4 per cent in 2015. The warning comes as new economic data are due that will probably show the British recovery slowed down between July and September.

UK interest rate conundrum

It’s been a long time since a full parliament elapsed without an increase in interest rates. The last time it happened was between 1945 and 1950, when Clement Attlee’s Labour government held the official cost of borrowing at 2 per cent.
It looks increasingly likely that David Cameron’s administration will be the next.
Although the UK is on course to be the fastest growing economy in the G7 group of industrial nations this year, the chances of the Bank of England raising borrowing costs before the next election are receding.
Interest rate sentiment in the City has changed markedly in the past couple of months. When two of the members of Thread needle Street’s monetary policy committee said in August that it was time for a rate rise, the assumption was that it was only a matter of time before the other seven agreed.
November 2014 and February 2015 were seen as the likeliest dates for a move. Now the date being pencilled into diaries is August 2015.

The tiny eye implant replacing reading glasses

Reading glasses could become obsolete thanks to a tiny optical implant that sharpens vision, scientists say. The implant, a tiny ring placed beneath the eye’s surface in a procedure lasting only 15 minutes, allowed more than 80 per cent of those treated to read a newspaper without glasses, a trial found.
The device, called Kamra, is already available privately in Britain, costing about £5,000 for both eyes, but until now it has been seen as an experimental treatment.
The latest results provide more convincing evidence that it works in most people whose near vision has declined with age.
John Vukich, an ophthalmologist at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, who led the study, said that the technology could remove the need for people to constantly change glasses as they switch between activities such as reading and driving.

CBI prompts start of a British renaissance

The Government has been urged to launch a manufacturing “renaissance” to inject £30 billion into the British economy over the next decade and create half a million new jobs.
According to a new CBI report the Government and business should join forces to strengthen the supply chain of UK manufacturing giants such as Rolls-Royce and Jaguar Land Rover by tackling skill shortages and encouraging more research and development into new world-beating products.
It calls for the doubling of science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates with “Davies-style” targets created to encourage more women to take up manufacturing roles in plastic, metals and chemicals in particular.

Shoppers stay away in warmer weather

Fewer shoppers visited the high street and shopping centres last month as the warm weather encouraged people to enjoy other activities.
Footfall at retail destinations in the UK fell by 0.9 per cent in September, including 0.6 per cent on the high street and 2.6 per cent at shopping centres according to the British Retail Consortium and Springboard.
However, despite the decline in overall footfall, visitor numbers at out-of-town retail parks rose.
There were significant regional variations, with footfall up 2 per cent in Scotland as the country voted on independence but down 5.6 per cent in the West Midlands.
The fall in footfall in line with the three month average of 0.9 per cent and an improvement on the 1.1 per cent decline recorded in August.

MPs who have little idea how unpopular they are

MPs are less popular than they think they are, according to research. An independent study found that as few as 24 per cent trust their MP to represent them in Parliament.
However, a separate survey of MPs found that 86 per cent think they are trusted by their constituents. The new polls, commissioned by campaigners 38 Degrees, come as MPs prepare to vote on a new law to recall “bad apple” MPs from Parliament and force them to face a by-election.
Campaigners are furious that the Recall of MPs Bill only gives voters limited right to force a by-election. David Babbs, executive director of 38 Degrees, added: “Faith in tribal Westminster politics is crumbling. Giving voters the power to get rid of bad apple MPs would be the first step towards restoring people’s faith in politics.”

Booze fuels 40pc rise in liver deaths

Deaths from liver disease have gone up by 40pc in just 12 years due to Britain’s boozing culture, research reveals. Increased alcohol consumption and 24-hour licences were to blame for the “alarming” increase, according to experts at Public Health England. Professor Julia Verne, who led the research, said growing numbers of people aged 20 to 40 were among the victims.
She warned: “These results were far more shocking than I imagined. This is a rapid increase in deaths in just over 10 years. This is a needless loss of young lives as most liver disease is preventable.” In 2012, 10,948 people died from liver disease, compared to 7,481 in 2001. The study found a north-south divide with Blackpool one of the worst spots.
Deaths there stood at 58.4 per 100,000 compared with Bedfordshire at 13 per 100,000. The seaside town had many more licenced premises with nearly half holding 24-hour licences.

100,000 face
benefit cut

Up to 100,000 people will see their benefits cut to pay for David Cameron’s plans for three million new apprentices. The PM will reveal “difficult decisions on welfare” are at the heart of a £1billion back-to-work drive. And he will call on Britain’s top 100 firms to do their bit by hiring young workers by 2020. More than £250million a year for the scheme will come from a lower welfare cap and cuts to housing benefits for jobless 18 to 21-year-olds.
Both moves were outlined by the Chancellor earlier this month. But the Government revealed later the benefits cap cut — from £26,000 to £23,000 — would affect 70,000 people. And axing housing benefit from out-of-work youngsters will hit 30,000. The savings will be used to support firms taking workers on.

1m under-30s can’t buy homes

A million young people have been prevented from buying a home over the past decade because social mobility is going backwards, according to a report. Alan Milburn, a former Labour minister who advises the government on social mobility, says the vast majority are now dependent on their parents to buy a house. The fact so few under-30s in full-time work can afford to buy their own property threatens to ‘break the link between effort and reward’, he adds.
In an interview ahead of the publication of the report, he warned that today’s young generation are the first for a century to be worse off than their parents. If owner-occupation had continued at the level it was a decade ago, 1.4 million more people in their 20s and 30s would own their own home. Home ownership among the under 25s has plummeted, with the average age of a first-time buyer now over 40 in London.

New dads must have same pay rights as mothers, says Clegg

Fathers should be able to take a year off work to look after young children with the same pay and benefits entitlements as women, Nick Clegg said. Announcing changes to the Civil Service’s benefits, the Deputy Prime Minister says he wants to smash an ‘Edwardian’ attitude that women rather than men should stay at home to look after their families.
Under his reforms, fathers working in the Civil Service are to be given the same package as mothers do now to enable them to take advantage of a new system of shared parental leave. He said he wants the reform to ‘blaze a trail’ for employers across the private and public sector. From April next year, the new parents will be able to share 52 weeks of parental leave.