Britain Faces EU Fines For Ban On Welfare Tourists
Brussels bureaucrats are planning to impose fines on the UK for banning 'welfare tourists' after the British goverment refuses to hand out billions in welfare payments to migrants.
Ministers have rejected orders from the European Union to hand over Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance and other means-tested benefits to migrants from other EU member nations.
If decisions are reversed payments could potentially cost the British tax payer £2.5 Billion a year in welfare handouts and see the UK as a magnet for so called welfare tourists.
Laszlo Andor, the European Commissioner for Social Affairs, said: “We have asked the British Government why they insist on not implementing this measure, but so far we have not received an explanation.”
Maybe its because we have enough trouble as it is with the steadily rising number of unemployed, and those requiring state handouts in the UK, without having to worry about the rest of Europe.
The threats of fines could potentially cost the UK tens of millions, a mere drop in the ocean in comparison to the amount it may cost if we are made to hand out free money to every imigrant willing to grace our shores.
The EU directive applies to Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit, State Pension Credit, Income-based Allowance for Jobseekers and Income-based Employment and Support Allowance. EU chiefs claim that any EU citizens living in the UK should be entitled to the same social security benefits as Britons.
But Employment Minister Chris Grayling has warned the directive could encourage millions of migrants to head to Britain to cash in. In particular, he fears that foreign pensioners could move to the UK to “top up” their state pensions through the Pension Credit system.
The British Government has already launched a legal action in the European Court of Justice to attempt to block the move.
Posted by Jay Dee
on 1:04 PM. Filed under