[RichardCoulter]

I suppose it depends on what the deal was when they came here. Was it a benefit of coming to fill job vacancies that they would be allowed to settle here for life, or was it always the case that this was a temporary thing?

If it was always known to be a temporary arrangements they can't really complain, but after all this time it's no longer as simple as that.

I know lots of people who came here who always had the intention of only staying for a fixed period, however, once they met a partner, had children etc they began to buy houses and such.

Racial discrimination laws made their lives easier and they were no longer happy to do the jobs that they were originally brought over for, resulting in promotion to better paid jobs.

Even at this stage many would say that they would go back to where they still considered home upon retirement. The problem was, after making friends and creating new family here, going home meant that they would have to uproot and make new friends just as they were getting older. The friends and family that they had left behind had probably died or moved on.

Whilst they would be able to take their pension abroad; i'm not sure if the Caribbean countries have something similar to Housing Benefit to help with rent etc (there again, their standard of living might be much cheaper and the British pension may be enough to live on.)

Also, just as they were getting older and more likely to need healthcare, they would lose the benefits of the NHS, many who will have paid for over the course of their working life.