General Election 2015: Ukip manifesto pledge on immigrants slammed as “breaking with evidence, common sense, and moral decency”
A key pledge made by Nigel Farage as Ukip launched its manifesto, designed to rouse voters at the General Election in May, has been slammed by one think-tank within hours.
Plans to crackdown on immigration by unskilled workers has been described as breaking with "evidence, common sense and moral decency" by the Adam Smith Institute.
Director Dr Eamonn Butler said:
Ukip’s crackdown on unskilled immigrants breaks with evidence, common sense, and moral decency. Low-skilled immigration does not affect the number of jobs available to natives; in fact, immigrants demand goods and services, which means new jobs are created to supply those services and community needs.
Immigrants prop up the welfare state, paying more in taxes overall than they consume in services or benefits. The best evidence suggests that low-skilled immigration only has a small and temporary negative effect on native wages, and this effect does not compare to the wealth they generate for the UK.
Ukip’s pledge to ban unskilled immigration for five years goes against all economic sense. It is only supported by a dogma that is both intellectually and morally bankrupt.
In addition to a five-year ban on unskilled workers, Ukip has promised to introduce a points-based system for immigration into the UK emulating the same model as the one used in Australia.