Culled from a facebook page
QUESTION TIME
Farage shouts 2.2 million arrivals in two years. Sounds massive, doesn’t it?
Q. How many of those are students?
A. About 840,000. Paying sky high fees, rent, food, bus passes. If anything they keep our universities alive and subsidise the rest of us. (840,000)
Q. How many are in legal work, paying tax?
A. Roughly 1.1 million. A big slice in the NHS and care homes. Without them our hospitals and care services shut tomorrow. (~1,100,000)
Q. How many are children, parents, or pensioners legally here but not in the labour market?
A. About 350,000. The kids of workers, the mums looking after them, the grandparents who came to join family. (350,000)
Q. How many are refugees escaping wars and persecution?
A. Around 110,000. Kurds, Afghans, Syrians, Sudanese. People who have lost everything and come here for safety. (110,000)
Q. So where is this tidal wave of illegals he bangs on about?
A. It is not there. What is left is a small slice, car washes, nail bars, cash in hand jobs. Nobody knows the exact figure, because those numbers do not exist.
And here is the killer question for Mr Farage. Where does our little ray of sunshine get his numbers from? I have done deep searches and there are no official stats out there. He throws out a big number, never breaks it down, and lets people imagine it is all boat people.
The truth is plain. Half are working and paying in, a third are students paying through the nose, the rest are children, family or refugees. Only a tiny uncounted fraction are the illegals he wants you to picture.
So when you hear 2.2 million, have a laugh and order another pint. It is not an invasion, it is just life.
And speaking of life, I am off to my Kurdish barber, hot towels, a cut throat shave.
I trust him with a razor at my neck, which is more than I would ever trust Farage with the numbers.