Obvious Question

I'm a great fan of Europe.

Despite the hash the powers that be have made of the Euro - I still support the European Union (EU) and its expansion further afield - into other countries such as Turkey.

I agree with the right of people to travel freely - to live and work abroad - whether temporarily or by going the whole hog and emigrating to a new land. 

My own family has an immigrant background - like many Scots I have ancient ancestors who come from Ireland-  and relatives who now live in America.

And if all my dreams came true - I'd like to go and live in New York for a while - and then retire to Spain.

But if that were ever to happen - I wouldn't expect to go and live off benefits from the state.

In fact if you said I could go and live in America or Spain without having to support myself - I'd say you were more than a little bit mad.

So what I don't understand is how people seem able to do this so freely in the UK.

Maybe our rules are completely bonkers - not just different but much more generous than everywhere else.

But the recent story of a Romanian woman - Firuta Vasile (27) – who came to the UK five years ago with four children - suggests that there is something badly wrong.

Last week Firuta was successful in persuading a court that she was entitled to £2,500 in housing benefits - on top of the £25,000 that she receives at the moment.

Now I don't bear any ill will towards Firuta - she is only exploiting a system that's there to be exploited - though it's difficult to understand how someone who has not made any contribution to this country - can come here and be paid £27,500 a year.

To get that amount of money in your hand - you would normally have to earn £40,000 a year - yet somehow or other people can come to the UK and live off the state without being in a position to support themselves - or their children.

And that's not counting the cost of other services - such as education and health.

To my mind that's just plain wrong - and it's the kind of crazy example that gives the EU a bad name - and immigration more generally.

I listened to a debate on TV yesterday about reforming the welfare system - and I was struck by the attitude of the Labour spokesperson - who said the Labour party agreed, in principle, with the need for reforms.

But he disagreed with the present coalition government's proposals for change - which prompted me to ask myself:

'Well why didn't the Labour party do something about it - while they were in government for 13 long years - between 1997 and 2010?'

But sadly the interviewer never asked the chap this rather obvious question - so I guess I'll never know.