Britain to introduce compulsory digital ID for workers

Can anyone really point me out the real problem about the immigrants? How big is it compared to, for example the lack of funding of the NHS or the hyper funding of other initiatives such as war in Ukraine.

Or are those things somehow related? I would be crazily scared to know that immigrant care workers will leave NHS as most hospitals relies on them. The government already made clear they won't pay people more nor will give more benefits for NHS workers and I am quite sure not Brits will take those spots when Tesco express pays more for less hours of work with more benefits.

>Can anyone really point me out the real problem about the immigrants?

This minimises the problem. The UK voters have consistently voted for reduced immigration, with polls showing the preferred number to be somewhere between 0-100,000. Those elected have consistently ignored them which has raised tensions.

In the last few years, the UK had around 1 million people net per year. 1 million people is bigger than most cities in the UK for comparison, so imagine a new city of people, every single year. The infrastructure could not, or did not keep up and has contributed to worse living standards through overly-subscribed national services, increased living costs, etc.

>for example the lack of funding of the NHS or the hyper funding of other initiatives such as war in Ukraine.

The NHS is already the single biggest expenditure of the UK's taxes. I remember it being more than 25% of the total budget. How much should be spent on the NHS? 50%? 90%?

The cost of defending democracy and freedom from a tyrannical Russia is also barely a drop in the bucket, while having huge meaning for many. Only 2% of the budget for the entire Armed forces, let alone just some support for Ukraine, compared to the 25+% on NHS. It's nothing.

I think there's some conflation happening here (not necessarily from the above comment).

Those figures relate to general immigration, which wouldn't be affected by ID schemes since people are given approval by the government to arrive and work in the UK. If the government wanted to reduce regular immigration, it could just decide to award less visas.

The ID scheme would only affect irregular immigration which is much lower (approx 50,000 a year by the governments stats, obviously hard to know how accurate that is, but much lower than 1 million[0]).

[0] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-...

The NHS may lack funding, or it may not. But what is certain is that if you know how the NHS operates internally, or you know someone who does, then it's extremely evident that the NHS is severely mismanaged by administrators who definitely are not underfunded.

I think saying "the NHS is underfunded" all day is just ignoring the other major issue: even when the NHS has funds, they squander most of them.

I don't think solving just one of them will solve the whole problem, but maybe solving the blatant corruption at the NHS's administrative level might improve their financial situation by virtue of the money not lining the pockets of the rich.

Thank you for the numbers. Could you please clarify how much money this translates to, both in terms of income and expenses generated by skilled workers who are legally employed in the UK?

I must say I am not doubting nor being pedantic. I am indeed trying to have a conversation based on the facts and people I know. I would happily change my mind if I find reasons for that. At the same time, I would like to share my views which might give some perspective on my opinions.

Based on government figures I've saw, the annual economic contribution from skilled workers alone is estimated to range from 4 billion to gbp. Moreover, it's important to note that these skilled workers generally don't receive government benefits. Literally. They pay double on nurseries, they pay for NHS in advance, they do not have any financial government assistance at all, contrary to what people believe.

I do not understand what kind of problems they cause. Would you mind explain it to me? I am not being pedantic nor ironic. I want to understand what is the complaint?

I agree about drug dealers, rape gangs and etc, but they in the UK before and they will remain independently of the political changes regarding immigration.

Ten years and no settlement will only put away skilled workers as they will not be able to retire on time, nor have any financial safety as the UK only provides 8 weeks for them to leave after the contract termination.It also means spending more on health, education, and living, which is already a struggle.

Refugees receive £50 per week, which isn't enough for groceries and rent. The system is broken, but attacking another unrelated group does not seem to be the answer.

While I acknowledge that some individuals are abusing the system, I maintain that the overall impact is likely positive, especially when considering the near-zero population growth among native populations.

Who will pay for pensions 10 years from now? The money you pay now goes towards current pensions, and the government does not save taxes for future generations.

So 1 million people per year was the supposed peak, right? The actual numbers are definitely far lower than 5 million, I think.

More than that, NHS workers in hospitals are immigrants because no British person is insane to work for it under current conditions.

At the same time, no Brit wants to increase taxes even more to cover the costs of paying more for health.

A short-sighted solution will be another blow to the UK economy as the Brexit was. Well, they are being orchestrated by exactly the same folks.

This also bothers me because there's a clear conflict of interest. Trice is married to an editorial lead at The Telegraph and receives funding from Lloyds.

Not sure about Sky News and others, but I would not be surprised that some digging would lead to the same people.

There is a clear financial cost related to the war in Ukraine. Whether it is a fair cost or not is a moral and ethical point, which I think is an individual opinion. But there is a cost regardless. Money spent in war is money that will never ever come back at any proportion to its society.

You are absolutely right to point this out. However, I don't think many people in this thread are actually confused. It's rather clear that this scheme has about as much to do with immigration as the Online Safety Act has to do with protecting children. The UK government is just getting more and more bald-faced about these sorts of things.

Not to mention if you have suddenly have 1 million more people a year, many of whom are not in good health, you will suddenly have a lot more demand on that already broken and under-funded system.

Where do you assume they are not in good health? Or many of them are not in good health? Most of them are university students or economic active people as far as I know.

Cutting those places will put UK in even a worse place then after Brexit.

For sure there are sick people. Over any population there is a sample which is sick, but how much is it according to you or your sources?

I don't think, nor I have proof, but seems logical, that there will be many more healthcare workers than sick people.

The real mess is not about immigrants, I cannot blame them for the lack of investiment, training and planning over 20 years or more. If anything, I am grateful that if I go to a hospital they can admit me because there is AT LEAST enough people. It seem lack of character to change policies after asking people to come.