Family migration inquiry oral evidence session

I had an invitation to attend and possibly give evidence, but when Joy got her visa I decided not to go, I doubt my evidence would have helped much..

The link is fine, use Google Chrome to listen to it. It is the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration..

The link is ok Peter, what's probably happening is that your browser is downloading the sound content as a file instead of streaming it directly and playing it live and whatever the file type is it must be associated with your Windows Media Player for whatever reason Windows Media Player is giving you a security warning because of the source location of the file and the file type.

Picked up a few points from the talk..

• Professor David Metcalf admitted ignoring regional variances in wages.
• £18,600.00 is the amount a person no longer becomes eligible for any tax credits.
• £25,700.00 was set by the MAC to be economically neutral (pays as much in tax as gets back).
• Professor David Metcalf said regional differences in salaries are minor (noted gasps in the audience).

I was very interested in what Barry O'Leary had to say (he is a specialised immigration solicitor). He told the story of a woman called Natalie who was earning £27,000.00 and was pregnant, her husband David was Australian and got homesick so the couple went back to Australia for a few years. Last August they tried and failed to return to the UK because Natalie does not currently have an income. However, they own property in the UK and her husbands current yearly income in Australia is $188,000 (Australian dollars) - but his income currently and potential income in the UK is irrelevant under the new rules. Natalie could come to the UK and work for 6 months without her husband being here, but she does not want to split her family up..

Just one example of the sort of people we need to keep here in the UK and this governments idiocy is keeping them out!