Where is the UK headed?

[donKey jote]

It's not out of the blue. The UK knew it was coming since the accounting rules were changed (2002!). I reckon the timing is political, to put Cameron in his place

[Brown, Jon Brow]

It's not out of the blue. The UK knew it was coming since the accounting rules were changed (2002!). I reckon the timing is political, to put Cameron in his place

But why would the EU want to give more fire-power to Farage?

[odykas]

Merkel moves to block Cameron’s plan to limit EU migrants

The German chancellor said her country was not willing to compromise the “fundamental principle” of free movement within the 28 nation bloc. Her intervention comes days after Mr Cameron threatened to introduce quotas for EU workers in a bid to find a way to wrest control of its borders back from Brussels.

Cameron now wants to change the fundamental principles of EU that include the free movement of goods and people within the EU countries.
It's obvious that this is part of a campaign to mitigate loss of voters to UKIP rather than his real EU strategy.

[donKey jote]

But why would the EU want to give more fire-power to Farage?

Maybe they just want him to stop sitting on the fence, whinging and putting his stick in the works

[Roamy]

the UK is headed for sharia law - big ben will be renamed big mohammud

[Malbec]

On the immigration issue: if Britain isn't attractiver to immigrants why is there a camp at Calais?

Two reasons. Firstly we can blame the Americans for making English such a universally taught language that many migrants to the EU will head for the one country where they already know the language which is the UK. Secondly thanks to having a massive Empire that spanned the globe many will go to what they feel is the country they have the closest affinity with which is... the UK. Francophones tend to head for France, Turks tend to head for Germany. South Americans go to Spain except for Brazilians who head to Portugal or Italy where many of them are from and which allow dual citizenship.

I find it amusing that the Daily Mail sell this concept that Afghans are huddled around some benefits comparison website before choosing which country to head to in the EU.

Also we should stop deluding ourselves that we have anything like the worst refugee problem. Try telling that to the Greeks and Italians, both of which are often the point of entry for migrants and are therefore the ones that have the biggest problem.

[Malbec]

However, the whole thing has been badly handled by the UK government and the EU. Some of the people inside the Treasury will have known about this for months or longer, so it shouldn't have been allowed to come as a surprise. And the EU seems to be completely oblivious to the political hot potato that it is at the minute in the UK. Why announce it now when we have a bye-election in a few week where one of the front-running parties is anti-EU?

I think we've run out of political capital in the EU. All Cameron can threaten is to leave the EU with each tantrum he has, I think many in the EU would be happy with that as all we do is block changes and try to renegotiate EU fundamentals. Also I don't think Britain's internal politics are particularly high when it comes to announcing things like this.

As driveace's posts show there are many in the UK, particularly in the older population who just will not believe the benefits EU membership gives us WRT trade and so on no matter how many times they are told. I think its time to have a vote, leave the EU and see the British economy sink before begging to rejoin again. Perhaps then we will have a graphic demonstration of what exactly the UK gets from the EU, many will be surprised when multinational banks and manufacturers leave the UK leaving millions unemployed with a massive hole in the budget. It will hurt and might bankrupt the country but how else will people here learn?

[pino]

BBC should send live coverage from Sicily everyday, so everyone in UK could see, who really has an immigration problem...

[Rudy Tamasz]

many will be surprised when multinational banks and manufacturers leave the UK leaving millions unemployed with a massive hole in the budget. It will hurt and might bankrupt the country but how else will people here learn?

Does it mean the City is the main beneficiary of the UK membership in the EU and simply keeps the rest of the population hostages?

[donKey jote]

Really?