[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Osem

I think we're at the point where this decision is going to be made by a great many people on an emotional, intuitive, level and only time will allow us to make a judgement about which would have been the best option.

Agreed. Whilst in the EU the corner principle of freedom of movement within the EU can never be opposed and since the vast majority of those fleeing into Southern Europe are automatically being given leave to stay in the EU and thus benefit from that freedom to come and go as they please, many people in the UK will see that as a very negative aspect of EU membership and vote accordingly.

Cameron's watered down benefits cap/limit/brake or whatever it's called today is unlikely to affect how many will chose to come here as the majority of them are not coming for benefits but for the myriad of low paid jobs that big business is generating. To those without jobs from Eastern Europe or further away those jobs look well paid.

The resulting pressure to drive wages down to the bare minimum is affecting many families. Putting in place the living wage will partly offset that drive but it just makes the wages in the UK look even more attractive to migrants. Without an effective work permit system, that we can only properly implement after leaving the EU, they'll still come in their hundreds of thousands each year.