It kind of does when one claims that immigration is why they want out of the EU when a) most immigration comes from outside of it and b) we already had the ability to limit it. When you are in favour of social democratic policies but vote for the opposite, when you parrot analysis from newspapers but can't substantiate it, when people still think Labour crashed the economy in 2008 even after Osborne admitted it was made up...etc etc
I agree with A, however, we have perceived controls over non EU immigration ie can decide if we need the skills etc (I’m not sure we’ll ever control our borders though let’s be honest !!!). B is accurate(ish). There are certain controls that we chose not to enforce however realistically are/were they easy to ???
‘EU law does not provide nationals from other EU Member States with an unlimited right to enter or remain in the UK. Most importantly, the right to live in the UK without any conditions or formalities only lasts for three months. In addition, the right is subject to limitations “on grounds of public policy, public security or public health” the UK retains the right to restrict the freedom of movement and residence of EU citizens and their family members, where their personal conduct represents “a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society” and the home Member State of any expelled EU nationals must allow those nationals to re-enter their territory.’
I can imagine the human rights lawyers would be well up for the battle. Also, there’s plenty of lower paid jobs available so it would be easy to demonstrate in the three months that you are ‘contributing’
All the EU needed to do when Cameron did his pathetic begging trip was offer a perceived better control over immigration and Remain would’ve won easily. Most leavers (a few racists aside !) don’t have an issue with immigration but it’s having a semblance of control which is important, just being able to say ‘enough’ for a period or ‘we need more skilled labour in these areas, not those’ is not too much to ask ?!
We all know that eventually most migrants pay their way and are contributors to the economy but currently if 500k or 750k wanted to come over in a short period of time from the EU they could do. How does the infrastructure (school places, housing etc etc) cope with that immediate influx ?
Also, I don’t think many blamed Labour for the crash, most did blame them for running a significant budget deficit pre crash though. As Liam Byrne (labour MP) said on his leaving note ‘There’s no money left’
You always make good points Brighton but they are usually heavily slanted