Starmer is as bad as those who came before him. What a bitter disappointment. Echoing the far right on immigration, his moral and intellectual stature has fallen away.
by bottish
Starmer is as bad as those who came before him. What a bitter disappointment. Echoing the far right on immigration, his moral and intellectual stature has fallen away.
by bottish
4 comments
> In particular, Starmer denied that immigration is good for [economic growth](https://archive.is/SPyTZ). He had to say this, because he is supposedly single-minded in his pursuit for growth but is today unveiling policies which will damage it.
> Read any [Office of Budget Responsibility forecast](https://archive.is/T3X1Y), of course, and you’ll see a different story. You will see a story that is informed by expertise and reality rather than ignorance and paranoia. The more immigration you have – within reason – the more growth you are likely to secure. This would be the case anyway but it is particularly the case when you have an ageing population. Starmer is therefore reduced to stating the most cringeworthy nonsense in order to maintain his position.
> “The theory that higher migration numbers necessarily lead to higher growth has been tested in the last four years,” he said. “We’ve had the highest net migration when the last government lost control, to nearly one million, and stagnant growth. And so that link doesn’t hold on that evidence.”
> This is so embarrassing you end up holding your head in your hands and groaning. Just because one factor has a certain causal effect does not mean it will overrule the causal effects of other factors. In particular, immigration can support growth even as Brexit, the war in Ukraine and Covid damage it. He might as well tell voters that salads are unhealthy because they fail to cure cancer.
> As we watched the Prime Minister lose his moral stature today, we also watched him lose his intellectual stature. Indeed, both fell away as one, because the debate on immigration is defined by myth-making and nativism rather than evidence and reason. It makes a mockery of those who engage in it, as much as those it targets.
Archive: https://archive.is/rpCEg
Jonathan Portes on Blue Sky (Professor of Economics and Public Policy, King’s College London; Senior Fellow, UK in a Changing Europe. Immigration, economics, public policy) added:
> [Once again, this is simply not true. Non-UK origin employeea have (slightly) higher median earnings than UK-origin ones -and the gap has if anything widened (slightly) recently.](https://bsky.app/profile/jdportes.bsky.social/post/3loxh74sdfk2h)
and:
> [It’s true many recent migrants are working on lower-paid jobs/sectors. But on average they’re *not* dragging down wages etc. (And earnings *progression* appears quite rapid -even in health/care)](https://bsky.app/profile/jdportes.bsky.social/post/3loxhf3j4hk2h)
The only principle Labour have is to ensure they stay in power.
They appear to have no strategy and very flexible values.
Starmer himself is like a corporate middle manager who will say or do whatever he needs to in order to climb the ladder.
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