Prime Minister's letter to Gazette readers

David Cameron David Cameron

PRIME Minister David Cameron this week wrote an open letter to Thurrock Gazette readers. Here is what he said:

"Under Labour, immigration got out of control. Readers of the Thurrock Gazette will understand this as well as anyone.

"Conservatives in Government are determined to sort the problem out. That’s why we have worked hard since we were elected in 2010 to bring immigration down to a more manageable level.

"We’ve capped economic migration for people outside the EU. We’ve clamped down on 180 bogus colleges that allowed people coming into this country claiming to be students.

"And we’ve imposed tougher requirements on family visas. The numbers are coming down in a dramatic way as a result.

"Figures out last week showed net immigration is down by a third since the last election. Controlling immigration has nothing to do with prejudice of any sort, as the people of Thurrock well know.

"For years, this area has opened the door to people from every corner of the globe. Sixty-five years ago, the Empire Windrush landed at Tilbury. On it were 500 people from Jamaica in search of a better life. They found one here.

"Throughout our history we have welcomed new citizens from around the world. I’m proud of that.

"In fact, one of my proudest moments as Prime Minister was standing with 80,000 others in the Olympic Stadium last year to roar Mo Farah to victory. This was a man who arrived here from Somalia as a boy. And when asked if he would have preferred to run for Somalia he said: “Look mate, this is my country – and when I put on my Great Britain vest I’m proud.”

"This is our island story – open and diverse. But clearly there has got to be a limit to immigration. And under Labour that limit was shattered.

"During their time in office, 2.2 million more people came into the country than left it. In their last year in power alone, net immigration was a staggering 235,000. These extra numbers put a huge pressure on housing, schools and jobs.

"More than 900 young people in Thurrock are currently unemployed. And as your local Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price told Parliament recently, there is a desperate shortage of primary school places in Chafford Hundred.

"Of course immigration doesn’t always cause these problems, but it often makes it more difficult to solve them.

"Have Labour learnt their lesson from the past? No. It has refused to back the Government’s immigration cap and a range of other measures that we’re taking to control immigration.

"After years of out-of-control immigration under Labour, the country needed Conservatives to come into government, get a grip and toughen up the immigration system. That is exactly what we’ve done.

"Across the board we have made our immigration system more strict and more rigorous, with the result that net immigration is now down by a third. We listened to you.

"We promised to cut immigration. And the figures last week show we have kept our word."

Comments(27)

Cvh says...
3:41pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Well said

Thurrock Trojan says...
9:20pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Yawn...

ThurrockResident says...
11:00pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Never forget it was none other than THATCHER who signed up to allow unlimited immigration from the EU. Cameron has made little dent in the vast numbers of immigrants flooding this area and it is set to get much worse with Bulgarians and Romanians coming over.

Thurrock Trojan says...
12:41am Fri 8 Mar 13

People are getting sick of the Labour blame game. This shower of **** have been in office for 3 years now and they've been an absolute disaster.

Yes, Labour did fail on immigration but at least Ed Miliband has had the courage to apologise and admit Labour got it wrong.

David Cameron and this shower of **** have yet to apologise and admit to their incompetence and mistakes...

Dave_ says...
7:20am Fri 8 Mar 13

Labour may have owned up for the open door policy on immigration, but as yet nothing on their economic incompetence with disasterous spend, spend, spend and spend some more economic policy, inventing ways of taxing people and planting hundreds of thousands if not millions people into a welfare dependency and building the public sector into an unsustainable leviathan, on top of an international economic downturn.
It wouldn't have mattered who got into govt last time, what has happened since 2010 would have still happened. If the stories were true Labour had effectively emptied the naitons coffers.

Bernard 87 says...
8:35am Fri 8 Mar 13

He needs to now tackle EU migration, which means we need to leave Europe to stop this continual flood of people into the UK. The freedom of movement works against the UK.
We also need to start sending foreign criminals and foreign benefit cheats back to their original countries. We need to stop sending child benefit to Poland for children not even in the UK, ban all benefits and free health and education for a year for all new residents and demand that English is spoken by everyone by getting rid of translators. These types of measures would stop the UK looking so soft in the first place.

No-one minds highly skilled Europeans from France, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Germany etc coming to work here but we cannot accomodate every poor worker from Eastern Europe.

Large parts of this country resemble the third world thanks to Labour and their open borders. Places like Thurrock are now having to take their fair share of new residents yet people in the borough still vote for the Labour party.

Thurrock Trojan says...
9:24am Fri 8 Mar 13

Dave_ wrote:
Labour may have owned up for the open door policy on immigration, but as yet nothing on their economic incompetence with disasterous spend, spend, spend and spend some more economic policy, inventing ways of taxing people and planting hundreds of thousands if not millions people into a welfare dependency and building the public sector into an unsustainable leviathan, on top of an international economic downturn.
It wouldn't have mattered who got into govt last time, what has happened since 2010 would have still happened. If the stories were true Labour had effectively emptied the naitons coffers.
And our current government isn't incompetent?

Double-dip recession, and a triple-dip recession could happen this year.

The loss of our AAA credit rating.

Rising unemployment (yes, it's rising, not falling).

Robbing from the poor to pay the rich.

Tax cuts for millionaires.

No mansion tax but people who receive Housing Benefit face paying the unfair Bedroom Tax (basically, Cameron's poll tax).

Fighting to protect bankers' bonuses while the average person struggles to make ends meet.

And let's not forget this government has done more u-turns than a driving school.

It's clear who's side this government is on: The rich elite.

This government is full of incompetence and is out of touch with those of us living in the real world, much like our useless Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price who expects us to feel sorry for her banking chums.

Bernard 87 says...
11:20am Fri 8 Mar 13

Normally I don't agree with Thurrock Trojan but he is right that this government has not been a rip-roaring success. I think part of the problem was that they did not predict the level of mess we were in by 2010 and have had an extremely difficult time doing the things the country needs. Having two parties in coalition doesn't help either.

While most people in the UK know that Labour played a large part in our economic mess it is time that the coalition really knuckles down as Britain is still haemorrhaging money in all sorts of places.

I would also like to see huge companies like Starbucks start to pay a proper level of tax in the UK.

This tax but for millionaires is a load of nonsense however. Labour introduced the 50p tax rate months before they knew they were going to be booted out of power. It was a cheap political shot which has raised very little in tax as the rich simply moved their money overseas. Again, most people are clued up to this....except Thurrock Trojan who seems to think that millionaires and bankers are rolling around in piles of money while the rest of us are queing up for the soup kitchen in Grays, Stanford, Ockendon or wherever. Mr Trojan needs to go away and read up on the Labour party and its policies, especially during the New Labour years.

Without rich people the country will be a poorer place, without bankers millions will be out of a job, not to mention the financial services tax which is a huge amount raked in by the Treasury. Whether we like it or not, we need wealthy people to stay in the UK and invest in the country.

It is not good enough to blame bankers. Bankers were not being regulated and Labour allowed that to happen in their quest to keep the City happy. Both Thatcher and Major understood that while you can have periods of deregulation when the tide turns against you, you have to put in place regulation. Brown, Blair, Milliband and Balls failed to understand that simple concept hence bankers taking huge risks.

C.E.R. says...
1:05pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Is he aware of the rename of "Chaffrica" which is now suffering an influx of eastern europeans that have children in our schools that cannot speak English properly that hold up our children ?

Thurrock Trojan says...
1:40pm Fri 8 Mar 13

This government has been in office almost 3 years and the mess we're in now has been caused by them, not Labour, not the Eurozone and not the global economy.

All this shower of **** has done since 2010 is blame everything on Labour. This government has failed miserably and the latest opinion polls put Labour at 44%, the Tories at 31%, UKIP at 11% and the Lib Dems at a pathetic 9%.

I don't support UKIP because the party is mostly made up of former Tories or people whom support Tory policies.

As for Jackie Doyle-Price, her main concern is Chafford School. What about the other schools in Thurrock that are bursting at the seams?

One that this is really aggrevating many Thurrock residents are the amount of African and Eastern European children managing to get places in Thurrock's over-subscribed schools, yet many local residents who have lived in the borough all their life are having to send their children to schools in Laindon, Basildon, Southend, Barking and Rainham. This situation is totally unacceptable.

Thurrock Trojan says...
1:52pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Bernard 87 wrote:
Normally I don't agree with Thurrock Trojan but he is right that this government has not been a rip-roaring success. I think part of the problem was that they did not predict the level of mess we were in by 2010 and have had an extremely difficult time doing the things the country needs. Having two parties in coalition doesn't help either. While most people in the UK know that Labour played a large part in our economic mess it is time that the coalition really knuckles down as Britain is still haemorrhaging money in all sorts of places. I would also like to see huge companies like Starbucks start to pay a proper level of tax in the UK. This tax but for millionaires is a load of nonsense however. Labour introduced the 50p tax rate months before they knew they were going to be booted out of power. It was a cheap political shot which has raised very little in tax as the rich simply moved their money overseas. Again, most people are clued up to this....except Thurrock Trojan who seems to think that millionaires and bankers are rolling around in piles of money while the rest of us are queing up for the soup kitchen in Grays, Stanford, Ockendon or wherever. Mr Trojan needs to go away and read up on the Labour party and its policies, especially during the New Labour years. Without rich people the country will be a poorer place, without bankers millions will be out of a job, not to mention the financial services tax which is a huge amount raked in by the Treasury. Whether we like it or not, we need wealthy people to stay in the UK and invest in the country. It is not good enough to blame bankers. Bankers were not being regulated and Labour allowed that to happen in their quest to keep the City happy. Both Thatcher and Major understood that while you can have periods of deregulation when the tide turns against you, you have to put in place regulation. Brown, Blair, Milliband and Balls failed to understand that simple concept hence bankers taking huge risks.
NEWSFLASH: Casino-style banking wasn't just happening in Britain, it was happening all over the world. The global economic crisis began in Wall Street at the end of 2007 and quickly spread to the UK and Europe in 2008. By mid-2008 there was a global economic crisis.

You're just as bad as all deluded Tories who blame everything on Labour because it's an easy answer. Labour did not cause the global economic crisis.

Bankers are being protected by this rotten government while the average person is struggling. Things will get worse come April when further cuts take effect and all the while this dispicable government protects the rich and penalises the poor it will cause social unrest.

Those in poorer areas across the county will start to resent the governement, well-off and and, of course, bankers.

When the government does everything it can to protect bankers' bonuses and makes life even more difficult for the poor, it will lead to rioting. We saw this during Thatcher's disastrous era and it will happen again.

I suggest you stop living in a parallel universe and start paying attention to the damage this government is doing to this country. National morale is at an all-time low and people like you are too deluded to even have a discussion with because you ever do is play the Labour blame game.

I am very concerned for the millions of people in this country who are suffering at the hands of this shambles of a government. Let's hope you don't end up bearing the brunt of Tory brutality.

OckendonPaul says...
2:17pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Lots of words from Mr. Cameron but all I read was "We're afraid of UKIP"

Bernard 87 says...
2:51pm Fri 8 Mar 13

I give up with Thurrock Trojan.

We'll probably have a Labour government in 2015 and by 2020 it wouldn't surprise if we're in the red again as we were at the end of 1969, mid 1979 and mid 2010....I'm seeing a pattern here...

Bernard 87 says...
3:17pm Fri 8 Mar 13

"One that this is really aggrevating many Thurrock residents are the amount of African and Eastern European children managing to get places in Thurrock's over-subscribed schools, yet many local residents who have lived in the borough all their life are having to send their children to schools in Laindon, Basildon, Southend, Barking and Rainham. This situation is totally unacceptable.”

But you support the party the advocates this? So you're getting what you voted for. It's a little hypocritical to make remarks like that after your defence of Labour (or total ignorance of the facts I pointed out). After 2015 i'll expect the school situation to get even worse once Labour start opening the doors (or just take them off their hinges completely) as wide as they were 1997-2010.

Thurrock Trojan says...
5:40pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Just because I support Labour it does not mean I support all their policies and everything the party has done over the years.

You really should think before you cast aspersions.

Thurrock Trojan says...
5:42pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Bernard 87 wrote:
I give up with Thurrock Trojan. We'll probably have a Labour government in 2015 and by 2020 it wouldn't surprise if we're in the red again as we were at the end of 1969, mid 1979 and mid 2010....I'm seeing a pattern here...
Your problem is you don't like it when people attack your precious Tory party and point out the damage they are doing to this country.

You're a typical Tory living in a parallel universe.

Thurrock Trojan says...
5:46pm Fri 8 Mar 13

OckendonPaul wrote:
Lots of words from Mr. Cameron but all I read was "We're afraid of UKIP"
It's the same old rhetoric Cameron is spewing out. Blame Labour for this, blame Labour for that...yet he won't sack his incompetent bum chum George Osborne who is the most incompetent Chancellor since Norman Lamont.

This government does not listen to the people and is only there to support the rich. It's no wonder Tories have move to UKIP!

Thurrock Trojan says...
6:02pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Perhaps Bernard87 should read:

http://www.bbc.co.uk
/news/uk-politics-21
714549

Bernard 87 says...
9:22pm Fri 8 Mar 13

No mention of Gordon Brown in that list whatsoever and no reference to the historical facts regarding Labour failure.

Criticise the government all you want, I do it enough myself, but a little acceptance of the situation we are in and the history behind it would be good,

Thurrock Trojan says...
9:40pm Fri 8 Mar 13

I have been very vocal about some of Labour's policies and mistakes. You still have not acknowledged any of the real issues that are affecting people caused by this government, not the last one.

I watch Question Time religiously every week and the same repetitive rhetoric spews out of the mouths of the Tory guests on the panel.

The studio audience are often very vocal about how out of touch this useless government is and they are sick of the Tories blaming everything on Labour, the Eurozone and the global economy whereas the crux of the issue is this government's failed economic policies which are crippling our economy.

Bernard 87 says...
9:59pm Fri 8 Mar 13

I completely agree with you that this government has some useless policies and the lack of economic growth speaks for itself.

DannyButcher says...
12:57am Sat 9 Mar 13

To be totally honest, I'm getting fed up with the Conservatives hiding behind meaningless rhetoric, false statements and the blaming of everything on the previous Labour government.

Yes, they inherited a big deficit form Labour and they obviously had no control over the global meltdown, but will they ever shut up and actually point this country in the right direction? It doesn't look like it.

I have lost all respect for them, as when George Osbourne opens his grinning mouth he is clearly out of his depth, David Cameron throws more childish insults out than a child and seemingly every other statement from them is 'Labour left us in this.............'.

The Conservatives will not win or be part of a coalition next time, and the succeeding party will have to clean up the mess left by the Tories before even considering tackling the issues the Tories inherited themselves.

Thurrock Trojan says...
12:59pm Sat 9 Mar 13

I saw on the news this week that William Hague and Theresa May are tipped to run for the Tory leadership as it's clear David Cameron won't win the next election.

All I can say is God help us...

Dave_ says...
3:07pm Sat 9 Mar 13

Yes you can’t keep blaming the last govt, but when was the last time in the UK a single party govt, created such an economic mess, was voted out and a coalition took over what was the timescale for getting back to normal? Probably not 3 years.
We do not have a Conservative govt we have a coalition and given the mess we as nation was allowed to get into, a coalition was the last thing we needed, but we the electorate are the makers of this destiny. We didn't vote or there was as seems to be the case people voting tactically (waste of a vote IMO), thus we are getting the govt we deserve.
I wonder what on earth you expect any Prime Minister who has to constantly kow tow to others to achieve. In any normal working environment someone would be given seniority and others expected to accept it, but this is coalition politics and the ‘partners’ aren’t intelligent enough to accept they are there for convenience, theirs as much as anyones.
We are in a period when the basics (food, water, heating) for living are forever going up, for any number of reasons, so we don't have the spare cash to buy or do things with, hence the economy has stalled. You can pump all the money into the economy you want, but when people are living in uncertainty over their jobs any spare cash they have, they won't spend it or borrow, although I imagine many borrowed at Christmas. As it is the banks won’t lend anyway, because the armchair economists are on their backs waiting for them to foul up.
I don't care what people say, we are where we are because we had a stitched up govt under Labour, TJ you talk about Cameron and Osborne, the Bliar/Brown conspiracy has done immeasurably more damage to this country economically. Had we had a straight forward single party govt this time of any colour we would have been in the same mess or worse, as Labour had run out of ideas other than spend, spend and spend some more and whichever of the other two was going to struggle. I do sincerely hope we don’t get a Labour govt next time, as they have proved themselves unable to cope. When Bliar gave it up for Brown, the unions sniffed a chance and keep sniffing now. I grew up during the 70s (power cuts, 3 day weeks - dad was affected, strikes) and remember union leaders on the tele on their soap boxes, and there are some now, who I’m sure have the same delusions of grandeur.
It would be good to know what people think that the coalition should do, that doesn’t amount to spending more to get out of trouble, or if spending more is the only answer, where does this come from and you’re not allowed to borrow or print/mint money. We need a period of belt tightening and living within our means. If as a nation we had any money saved for a “rainy day”, it would have been helpful to at least ride out some of the storm.

Thurrock Trojan says...
6:53pm Sat 9 Mar 13

In October 2010 George Osborne set out a plan to cut the deficit and said it would be paid off by the end of this parliament in 2015. Now he's pushed it back into the next parliament, into the early 2020s because his economic plan isn't working.

What more damage will the idiot be allowed to do to our economy until he realises he has got it wrong and we need a Plan B? Even Vince Cable and Tory backbenchers are calling for a change to Osborne's programme because it's doing more harm than good.

It doesn't take a moron to work that one out.

Thurrock Trojan says...
6:56pm Sat 9 Mar 13

We have a Tory-led Coalition but it's actually a Tory government. The Lib Dems are propping up the Tories.

The Tories call the shots and the Lib Dems sit back and take it because they're gutless, spineless and useless. It's no wonder they have been knocked into fourth place by UKIP.

Dave_ says...
7:16am Mon 11 Mar 13

Well if the Limp Dems are propping up the Conservatives and sit back and take it, you and I have different perspectives. I don't actually see them supporting, I see them horse trading.

As for the defecit (I'm not an expert) I never thought it would be paid off in one parliament and the expectations were extremely ambitious. Given the circumstances ie size of deficit, global siuation, over-sized public sector, contentious welfare / benefits system, and the fact it would be done within a coaliton. Just be content that if we'd continued with a socialist govt, we'd have been in a worse position.

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