Soft-touch UK
THE chaos and feebleness of soft-touch Britain has rarely been better exposed than by the astonishing case of crook Chido Vincent.
A benefits cheat who overstayed his visa in 2007 and used a fake letter to claim he had a right to work here.
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Who scammed the taxpayer out of £50,000 in handouts and got jailed.
And who, even after that, ended up working at the DWP processing Universal Credit claims.
Vincent should have been deported to Nigeria years ago, when he overstayed or after his prison stretch. But no.
He blithely applied for a government job and got it because DWP civil servants failed to spot his conviction for stealing from their own department.
READ MORE ON BENEFITS FRAUD
The man has lied, cheated and stolen from the public purse throughout his years here.
And yet we seem unable or unwilling to boot him out.
Small wonder our immigration numbers are out of control.
Brussels doubt
THE UK, Keir Starmer says, “is undeniably stronger when it works in lockstep with its closest international partners”.
He means Brussels, of course.
But we are no longer meant to work in “lockstep” with the EU.
That ended with the vote in 2016.
And that is not what independence means.
The fact the PM uses the word so glibly should worry those who fear Brexit is not safe under him.
Today he is in Brussels, limbering up perhaps to agree a “youth mobility” scheme.
That’s free movement of sorts — age-limited, maybe time-limited.
What exactly it looks like may depend on which Starmer turns up:
The diehard Europhile who championed the failed “People’s Vote” to overturn Brexit, and later promised instead to “defend free movement as we leave the EU”.
Or the supposedly hard-nosed Brexit realist who only last week had “no plans” for a youth mobility scheme.
Will he sign something binding us more closely to the EU?
He should be very wary of doing so.
Millions of Leavers who lent Labour their vote in July are watching.
Fags snag
SMOKING has plummeted to a record low. Excellent. But there’s an obvious problem.
The Government has chosen THIS moment for a foolish new war on ciggies, outdoors this time, which could bankrupt thousands of pubs.
An economically damaging crackdown, closing many community hubs . . . when the habit is dying out anyway.
We know the public health nanny-state bores are forever bending Labour’s ears over fags, booze and grub they disapprove of.
Ignore them.
Don’t wreck pubs and dump bar staff on the dole to fight a war already all but won.