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Farewell & ThanksReligion As A WeaponBanking, Bankers and GovernmentEU Arrogance - again !!Davie Goes To StrasbourgIndex Child Benefits EU Scamby Don Clark - 06:38 on 01 February 2008£1.75m of child benefits paid out a month - to mothers in PolandLike every good mother, Mrs B wants the best for her two children.
She buys them new clothes and puts healthy meals on the table, while keeping the family's private flat, overlooking a park in a leafy provincial town, in perfect order.
PRIVATE SCHOOLINGHer nine-year-old daughter attends expensive private lessons after school and her youngest, a four-year-old boy will soon be old enough to go to the local kindergarten in the mornings.
Mrs B with her daughter collects £33 a week in benefits
She works long hours as an office supervisor but she still relies heavily on child benefit from the state to make ends meet.
Every week, she goes to the cashpoint at her local bank. There, she draws out the £33-a-week put into her family account by the British government. It totals £1,650 each year.
BUT SHE LIVES IN POLAND !!Yet this young Polish mother does not live in Britain. Her home is thousands of miles away in Poland.
Mrs B is just one of thousands of women across Eastern Europe who, because of the crazy system of hand-outs dispensed by Britain's generous welfare state, are entitled to child benefit.
MINISTERS ADMIT LOOPHOLESThis week, ministers admitted that more than £1.75 million a month in child benefits is going to the families of youngsters who live in the former Soviet bloc countries.
It was the first time that Labour has acknowledged that the money - funded by British taxpayers - is being paid abroad.
The revelation triggered a political controversy over the fact that the Government is paying for the upbringing of children who do not live in Britain and who may never even have set foot in the country.
It also underlines how our generous benefits system acts as a powerful draw for migrant workers. Moreover, this largesse is open to widespread abuse.
Like all migrants from the eight East European countries which joined the EU in 2004, her husband won the right to claim state benefits after working here for a year.
AND TAX CREDITS TOOAs well as child benefit, Mrs B’s husband is also eligible for £296 a month in tax credits because he has two children and his family's total income is £38,000 a year. He has just applied for the benefit and is unlikely to be turned down.
Indeed, even more money is being handed out in tax credits to East Europeans by the British government than in child benefit - although ministers say that information about the total amount now given to 40,000 foreign families is "not available".
Meanwhile 750,000 Eastern Europeans are registered to work in Britain today.
HOME OFFICE BLUNDERINGThe Home Office expected just 13,000 and gave assurances that the migrants would be unable to exploit the benefits system.
Particularly perturbing is the element of trust which pervades these particular welfare handouts.
Although it is known that 14,000 Eastern European nationals are already claiming child benefit for offspring who live in their home countries, no British officials have ever visited Mrs B to check that her daughter and son really exist.
The money simply drops every week into the family bank account - no questions asked.
POLISH NEWSPAPERS STIR ITControversially, on Monday last week, the biggest Polish newspaper in Britain ran a special edition bragging how easy it is for migrants to claim the benefits.
The front page article - under the telling headline Benefit Hunters - stated: "The longer we are here, the more rights to social security we are given and the better we are at taking advantage of them.
"You can apply for benefits as soon as you get a job in Britain."
The child benefit claimed by some families is more than the monthly minimum wage in the poorest of the EU countries of Eastern Europe.
Even in Poland, one of the richer former Communist nations, the figures make staggering reading.
MORE THAN MINIMUM WAGEFor instance, there the official minimum wage is £171 a month - and the British benefits handed over to a family with three offspring nudges is £169.20. The total is made up of £18.10 a week for the oldest child and £12.10 each of the others.
Benefits are advertised openly to Eastern Europeans on council websites in migrant hotspots such as Peterborough and Slough.
Is it any wonder that the contentious article in last week's Polish Express - boasting of state benefits to migrant workers - is accompanied by a picture of a happy Polish couple, with a baby in a pushchair, being showered with British banknotes?
PA CommentThis is another national disgrace that should pour shame on all politicians who supported the EU integration project.
The government is so out of touch with reality that it could not see both the numbers of immigrants coming in to the country nor the ludicrous commitments we are obliged to follow, thanks to our membership of the EU.
Three things need to happen.
(1) Labour need to step aside
(2) The people need a full debate and a referendum on our continued commitment to Europe
(3) The welfare state needs a radical overhaul to protect the hard working taxpayer Add your comment Please note that whenever you submit something which may be publicly shown on a website you should take care not to make any statements which could be considered defamatory to any person or organisation. |  |
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