http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2548651/Migrants-pay-2-000-advance-enter-Britain-cover-costs-care-benefits-says-report.htmlMigrants must pay £2,000 'advance' before they can enter Britain to cover costs of care and benefits, says report
By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor
PUBLISHED: 06:18 EST, 30 January 2014 | UPDATED: 06:58 EST, 30 January 2014
Migrants would be forced to pay a £2,000 bond to enter Britain to cover the cost of them claiming benefits and using services, Nick Clegg's favourite think tank said today.
The National Insurance Advance would be paid by anyone from outside the EU and would only be refunded once they have paid enough tax or left the country without becoming a drain on the welfare state.The report says the bond would ‘demonstrate that migrants are coming to the UK to work, not claim’.
It follows concern that immigrants are accessing services and the benefits system without paying in to the welfare state.
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CentreForum also calls for the time it takes EU migrants to become eligible for benefits to be extended to a year.David Cameron rushed through laws at the end of 2013 to increase the limit to three months, ahead of work restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians being lifted.
‘It is possible to restore confidence in the immigration system by ending the perception that migrants can access the benefits system without first contributing'
Report author Alasdair Murray
The report, published today, says that liberals need to 'start to engage properly with people's concerns on immigration'.
And it warns that the challenge for Mr Clegg is to 'devise a distinctive approach which addresses people's concerns in a proportionate and realistic fashion and begins to restore confidence in the immigration system - while preserving the liberal principles of freedom and tolerance to the greatest extent possible'.
Alasdair Murray, the report’s author, said: ‘Politicians are engaged in an arms race around immigration policy which appears to have more to do with looking tough than genuinely addressing people's concerns with practical policy.
‘It is possible to restore confidence in the immigration system by making it more transparent, ending the perception that migrants can access the benefits system without first contributing and developing a target that reflects the real social and economic needs of the country.’
The report also criticises Mr Cameron’s pledge to cut net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’, describing this target as ‘perverse’ and ‘unfulfillable’.
The report from the think tank close to the Lib Dems will heap pressure on Nick Clegg to take a tougher line on immigration
The report from the think tank close to the Lib Dems will heap pressure on Nick Clegg to take a tougher line on immigration
A broader target should instead be set at the start of each parliament covering migration and population change, the report adds.
A survey this week showed that immigration is now the most important issue of concern to the British people.
It came joint top with the economy in an Ipsos MORI poll of the public’s priorities for the Government.
Strikingly, in a single year, the proportion identifying immigration in their top priorities to Ipsos MORI has nearly doubled.
In the same period, the number citing the economy as their main concern fell by 11 percentage points, as unemployment and growth have picked up.
