Forget Romanians, Brussels is the real danger

Last updated at 10:52 01 October 2006

Fuss and froth about the coming arrival of unknown numbers of Bulgarians and Romanians in this country miss the point. Unless and until we leave the European Union, there is precisely nothing we can do to prevent or limit such migration.

Even if we banned them from taking permanent jobs, they are legally entitled to travel here, and having done so could easily disappear or become self-employed. Not far in the future, Turkey or even Russia could join the EU.

The EU's failure to protect its southern coasts and Eastern borders already means that we are open to uncontrolled migration from much of the world.

My own view is that if we are short of skilled workers we should set up a state education system, something we seem to lack at the moment, and train our own young people.

We should also stop taxing those who can and do work so heavily that it is not worth their while. But we cannot do that either, or make any serious change in most of the disastrous laws and policies that are wrecking our country, unless we take the basic step of taking back our national independence.

Yet no major political party will even discuss this, the most fundamental issue of all, and the Useless Tories have just selected a candidate for one of the most winnable seats in the country - Battersea - who is a passionate supporter of EU membership.