Trump could bankrupt Britain with a stroke of a pen

By: Annabel Denham / The Daily Telegraph
Translation: Telegrafi.com

Net inward migration has reached alarming levels in Britain. We are absorbing such large numbers of people that even 250 will seem modest. Many of the arrivals are imposing huge fiscal costs; our public services and infrastructure are being strained under the weight of the burden. Failure to reduce this influx has destroyed the contract between government and citizens, undermined public trust in the political class and could put the Conservative Party on the same electoral footing as the Monster Raving Loony Party.

Amid this slow-moving catastrophe, it is easy to forget that, not so long ago, Britain was a nation of immigrants. It was the exodus of people that kept politicians awake at night, not an influx of 1.2 million. Between 1815 and 1914, an estimated 10 million people left these islands to seek new lives and opportunities in Australia, Canada, the US and New Zealand.

After World War II, so many people left that Winston Churchill issued a warning against “abandoning the old land,” later describing immigrants as “rats fleeing a sinking ship.” The cost of the most expensive war in history had triggered a series of economic crises—massive national debt, increased rationing, housing shortages—that quickly melted away any post-victory euphoria and drove people to seek prosperity elsewhere.

Even by the mid-80s, more people were leaving the country than were entering it, despite the mythologized Windrush Generation [Windrush Generation – Caribbean immigrants who came to the United Kingdom after World War II, by ship HMT Empire Windrush]. Today, tired of economic stagnation and frozen living standards, the rats are packing their bags again. This is now a country where 28 million private sector workers are expected to support nine million economically inactive people, six million public sector employees and 13 million state pensioners. Meanwhile, the richest one percent, who pay 29 percent of income tax and the top 10 percent, who pay almost two-thirds of it, are then criticized for not making “their fair contribution.”

It's no wonder that 400 workers are reportedly planning to leave the country in the next two years. It's a miracle that this figure isn't higher.

Even after Brexit, leaving has never been easier. Psychologically, it is no longer the commitment it once was, when British immigrants [known as “Ten Pound Poms”] set off for Australia or when Irish people took a week-long steamer trip to Ellis Island. Cheap flights and improved communication have made the process much simpler.

Video calls and VOIP technology make it easier to communicate with parents, and returning to see relatives two to three times a year is no different from how often we get to see family when we live on opposite sides of the country. With fast flights, we can get from Faro to Newcastle faster than we can drive from Portsmouth.

And there is no shortage of places to go. We are fleeing not just to the English-speaking world, but also to Europe and the Middle East. Around 250 British expatriates currently live in Dubai, with a similar number in Abu Dhabi. And the more Britons there are in these cities, the more attractive they will seem to those left behind.

In the 40s, Ontario Premier George Drew ran a series of advertising campaigns to attract British immigrants. Today, Elon Musk believes that “if you want your team to win the championship, you have to recruit the best talent, wherever it is.”

If his friend, Donald Trump, were to open a visa route for our wealthy, it would surely plunge Britain into an even deeper fiscal crisis.

To put it bluntly, this would be exactly what our incompetent politicians – but not our once-great nation – deserve. By treating working people like a dead horse to be beaten until it collapses, rather than a precious resource that pulls the cart, they can’t help but wonder why so many people are starting to look elsewhere for opportunities.

Britain lost a net 10,800 millionaires to emigration last year, a 157 percent increase compared to 2023 and more than any other country – except totalitarian China.

But there is still hope. When a people have the right energy and desire, and the conditions are favorable, recovery can be rapid. Think of West Germany and Japan after World War II.

But that depends on creating opportunities for people to rebuild their lives. Look also at Zimbabwe and South Africa – once rich countries, but destroyed by incompetent, violent and predatory governments. And with every net zero [environmental] policy, DEI [Diversity, equity, and inclusion], welfare state, tax and spend, the Labour Party is increasingly taking our future away from the first world and towards a garbage dump.

For many of those considering emigrating, the question may soon no longer be "if," but "when." /Telegraph/