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the fundamental objectives of the EU is the free movement without borders . In campaign - they can't change that !
gios78-
There are steps that can be taken that soften the impact though. For example having a strong minimum wage to avoid a race to the bottom. At least then the "lower" working classes would be fighting Poles for decent jobs instead of shit ones. Of course, actually educating our population to a decent standard so they have an advantage over foreign competitors would be nice too.
But, yeah, some downsides are unavoidable. What's increasingly worrying me is that the biggest unavoidable downsides are the ones that matter the most to pretty big chunks of the electorate.
jimmy_james
I like that Economist article because it recognises the point that uneducated people tend to be more anti-EU/pro-exit because they are more exposed to the downsides of migrant labour, rather than because they are too thick to understand the issues*. I think if the "in" campaigners are to win they need to come up with some solutions to the immigration issues so many people are worried about.
At the end of the day it's easy for me to feel pro-European. My wife is Italian and my UK-specific technical profession shelters me from competition from short-term migrants. I've had nothing but positive experiences out of Europe. If I had an unskilled job and suddenly found myself competing for it with half a million eastern Europeans maybe I wouldn't feel so cosy about the EU.
*Obviously, some of them will be thick.