English Language and Construction

The petition is entitled make it comulsary for all construction workers in the UK to attain a specified level on English lanuage ability and there are no explanatory notes.

Which is a pity, because my overriding question here (as so often) is "WHY?????"

If their employers are satisfied with how a person works and with their own ability to communicate with their employees, what's the problem? (That goes for the people employing the construction company, of course, as well as for the bosses of the construction workers.)

If you wanted doctors, or nurses, or anyone else obviously public-facing, to be subject to English tests, I might agree. But to pick a hypothetical random example, an experienced Polish construction boss who's lived here for years and is functionally bilingual could employ an entire staff of Polish workers with varied levels of English proficiency quite happily, couldn't he? And if you don't like it, you don't have to employ them. What's the problem?

P.S. "Comulsary"? "lanuage"? May I suggest you undertake a trifling revision of the language yourself?

Stop Immigration!

The petition is entitled stop all immigration in to this country and the explanatory notes say

"stop all stop all immigration in to this country until it is known how many refuges are already here and speed up/reduce the time it take's to deport"

All immigration? So an American friend of mine, who recently married her British long-term partner, and who's got a job as a university lecturer here, couldn't stay after all? A (purely hypothetical invented-on-the-spot) elderly Indian widow whose son's been here 20 years and has taken British citizenship and who wants to come live with him to help look after his kids and have them look after her, can't come? What about all those Australian and New Zealander teenagers who come doing a world tour and stay a few months working in bars - is that immigration that would have to stop? Or Eastern European au pairs? What about the vast quantities of Indian and Japanese and Chinese students that make up so many students at our universities?

None of them can come any more? Until we manage to count how many "refugees" there are - which, actually, I think we already know, since a refugee is surely someone who has been granted asylum, which means they've been noted and, I assume, counted, by the system.

Or is this just yet more ill-thought-out, knee-jerk, point-free rubbish? Why yes, so it is.

(I've said it before - I'm biased. My grandparents immigrated to the UK from the Netherlands and duly supported themselves and their children here until the children were grown up, and then supported themselves until their deaths. Contributed enormously to their local communities, and in my grandfather's case national community, too. I take exception to people wanting to prevent people like them from coming here.)

Immigrants' rights to benefits

The petition is entitled Before Imigrants are granted permission to Stay in the UK. They must prove that they are financially able to support them selves and any dependants for 12 months without having to rely on the State and the explanatory notes say

"Like many other western countries. Should Imigrants wish to move and live in the UK. They must be able to support them selves and their dependants for 12 motnhs without needing assistance from the state. This includes housing, transport and all other living expenses."

Has the petitioner done any research?

There's a nice little guide that the BBC provides explaining who is entitled to live in the UK.

• EU and EEA nationals from the pre-expansion EU must live in the UK supporting themselves and their dependants for six months before being entitled to benefits.
• Nationals from the new EU member states, in Eastern Europe, must live in the UK for two years before being entitled to benefits.
• Commonwealth citizens may claim benefits as soon as they arrive if they can prove they intend to make their permanent home in the UK.
• Spouses and under-18 dependent children of permanent UK residents (i.e. citizens and those entitled to live here permanently) may live here, and under some circumstances unmarried partners as well. Presumably they're entitled to benefits, but equally presumably their partner's income is taken into account.
• Widowed parents and elderly parents and grandparents of permanent residents may come to the UK providing they are not going to be dependent on the state.

That appears to be the sum total if people who can come to the UK and claim benefits, except for refugees/asylum seekers, to whom a whole different set of criteria apply.

So. What changes does the petitioner wish to see? An extension from six to twelve months that an EU national must be resident before being entitled to benefits, apparently. I'm sure that's going to have an enormous effect on everything ...