Former Conservative MP Margo Longhi has said the country’s economic inactivity will not be fixed by an “addiction that we have to cheap labour”.
Speaking on GB News Longhi said: “I think it's a little more complicated than just saying, ‘work shy and feckless.’ Of course, there are those who will game the system, there are those who are work shy. But I actually think that it's a bit more complicated.
“If you look at the average salary for a factory worker in manufacturing or a care worker, for example, in Germany, doing exactly the same thing as a worker here in the UK, they earn the best part of £8,500 - £9,500 more than they do here in the UK.
“And what we've had in this country is a legacy over decades and decades and decades, which is an addiction to immigration. And we always go after the cheapest labour without investing in the skills and technology, in the jobs for the future and actually paying people more for those jobs.
“So yes, we do need to reform the welfare system so those who are able and fit to work should be working. But there are also other parts of that equation that we need to address. It's much more complicated than just looking at some ONS figures.
“I would agree in principle, [that the benefit system in Britain is good enough for people to live off] but there will be a number of people amongst those for which I wouldn't want to generalise, who have fallen on very hard times through no fault of their own.
“But yes, we have a problem, and every time a Conservative government has tried to address that problem, well, it’s the nasty Tories. Well, guess what? It's not the Tories who are in charge anymore. Now it's Labour. Let's see what they want to do.
“All I can say is that the problem is not going to be fixed by that addiction that we have to cheap labour. You do not just solve this problem by keeping on importing cheaper and cheaper labour.
“All you are doing is creating a bigger problem for the future, because you bring in that cheap labour, they need housing. Their wives and their children and their relatives all need housing as well. Public services are put under more and more strain.
“We do have British people who should be working in British jobs and that's the equation that we need to sort out. That is, I'm afraid to say, those employers who are not prepared to pay more money for the jobs that are out there.
“They need to be thinking about how competitive they are. Should they be relying on imported labour all the time?
“And should those economic advisors to Number 10 and to the Treasury, keep on saying, ‘immigration is good. Immigration will increase GDP’ and all the rest of it.
“No, it does not, because GDP per capita is falling and falling all the time. We are constantly being told that productivity here in the UK is very low. Well, yeah, productivity will always be low when you're relying on cheap labour, instead of investing in IT, in high tech and in training those people in those jobs - and paying them to do those jobs.
“India and Nigeria are the two countries that have abused our visa system for students, and that absolutely needs to stop without question. And to be fair to Rishi, he did put a stop to that, but it was too late in the day, and he called an election very early, so we haven't been able to see the benefit of putting a stop to that.
“If you go to Australia or to the United States, you go to study. You don't take your aunt, your uncle or your children with you. You go to study and you come back. We see it differently, apparently here in the UK, and those advisors who advise governments at the time to relax those rules were completely wrong and have been proven to be wrong.
“But Labour wanted the job, they need to sort that problem out. Let's see what they will do. And all the signs are that those floodgates are going to be even more wide open to people coming in, and that addiction to cheap labour and more and more immigration is going to continue under Labour.”
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