According to a new study, immigrants to the UK have contributed to the improvement of the UK’s public finances as they have given more to the state than they have received.
The international study showed that the net fiscal impact of immigrants was at the level of 0.46 per cent of GDP on an average from 2007-09. Paris-based think tank the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD conducted the study to form an opinion on immigration in various countries in the western world.
“According to recent opinion polls, about 50 per cent of citizens in European countries and in Canada believe that immigrants contribute less in taxes than they receive. are a big burden on the public purse,” the study said.
The study pointed out that immigrants were the like the rest of the population in the country and were neither draining the public finances nor representing a significant gain. In the UK, the households with immigrants made higher contribution than others to the public finances.
Data has shown that UK has received the highest number of people fleeing countries most affected by the economic slodown as their numbers rose 45 per cent between 2009 and 2011.
Australian PM demands unity amid leadership cloud
June 15 (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called on Tuesday for government unity as rumours swirled he could be dumped only months from elections due to his falling popularity and a controversial mining tax.
But Rudd is unlikely to be toppled — at least not yet — one senior figure from the ruling Labor Party said, and could expect a boost come election time from Australia’s robust economy even despite his woes over the planned mining tax.
Australia is in its 16th year of uninterrupted growth, avoided recession during the global crisis and its unemployment rate is half that of the Europe and the United States, all significant factors with many mortgage-conscious voters. [ID:nSGE6580KR]
Rudd stood his ground over the mining tax despite speculation his popular deputy Julia Gillard was set to replace him, even as opinion polls warned his government could become the first since 1932 to lose after just a single term in power.
“Reform is a hard business, it is a controversial business. The key thing in the the reform process is for governments to maintain their nerve,” Rudd told journalists as parliament resumed for possibly the final time ahead of a national vote.
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For a Factbox on Australian political risks, click:
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Labor Party stalwart Peter Beattie said the party would stick with Rudd regardless of the opinion polls. “The Labor Party is loyal to its leaders who have won an election,” Beattie wrote in The Australian newspaper on Monday.
Other commentators, however, warned Rudd’s “high-handed instransigence” would cost him his prime ministership. The Sydney Morning Herald said Rudd rivalled Pim Verbeek — coach of the national soccer team thrashed by Germany at the World Cup — as the most unpopular man in Australia.
Gillard has laughed off suggestions she should replace Rudd or could challenge, with the economy and employment still strong.
But with a likely October election looming, some Labor politicians believe she would offer a more conciliatory face and lure back jaded voters as conservative rivals and the minority party Greens close in, threatening a hung parliament or worse.
COMMUNITY, BUSINESS ANTAGONISM
Whatever happens in the elections, Rudd’s leadership could now be terminal. Gillard seems poised to replace him if Labor loses unexpectedly, or early in a new term if Rudd wins with a reduced majority in the parliament.
“There is the momentum of Rudd’s remarkable ability to mobilise community and business antagonism towards his own prime ministership, a momentum that shows no sign of abating,” senior political commentator Jennifer Hewett wrote in The Australian.
A Newspoll last week showed the opposition conservatives with an election-winning 53 percent to 47 percent lead over the government, although Rudd is still well ahead of opposition leader Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister.
Labor backbench members, in power since 2007, are pressuring Rudd to end a damaging row with miners over the planned 40 percent tax on profits, dividing voters in politically vital resource states.
The tax, and a decision to shelve carbon trading until the end of 2012, has hurt Rudd. Opinion polls show roughly half of voters oppose it because of concerns it would jeopardise jobs and investment.
More than $20 billion of new resource investment in Australia has already been shelved by global miners due to the tax, legislation for which won’t be drawn up until after the election and which won’t come into effect until 2012.
The government is preparing a compromise on the tax, being fought by miners in a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign, but Rudd has warned he won’t be rushed on a deal for “generous” transition arrangements.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner was among a host of ministers who sought on Tuesday to play down leadership speculation, which began after a former Labor luminary, who now works for a mining firm, called for his dumping.
“One thing I can tell you is we’re not going to be spooked by idle gossip,” Tanner said.
Gary Gray, Labor’s parliamentary secretary for resource-rich western and northern Australia, said the mining tax issue had to be resolved by August to end uncertainty and bring political debate back to Labor’s strengths in health and education.
Tanner said the government was doing all it could in consultations with the mining industry but it was impossible to set a specific deadline. (Editing by Michael Perry and Paul Tait)