Bleeding Britain Dry.

Just a short one today.

It's a well-known fact that a large number of immigrants to the UK send money to families back home in Pakistan or Poland or wherever. In some cases we have the mad situation where benefits are paid to people for children that are not in the UK.

The first point I have some sympathy with. Altruism isn't a bad thing and spreading any wealth you accrue in the UK to families back home can't hurt, as long as it's not abused and the sums are relatively small.

The benefits thing I can't get my head around. Why on earth the UK benefits agency thinks it's okay to pay for a child that isn't domiciled in the UK is a concept I can't grasp. The child is outside the UK, so it's for the country the child resides in to support it. If the country doesn't have a system of support, then it's the child's parents that made the decision to leave the kid behind. Whoever is looking after the child then gets to pay for them. The parents left in the full knowledge that the kid wouldn't be supported by the home country. Either take a cut in your benefits and send a portion back to whoever is looking after the kid, or get a job and support the kid directly.

But the big syphon of funds from the UK is of course big business.

Whether it's the eBays, Amazons and Paypals with head offices domiciled outside the UK and therefore eligible to pay corporation tax not here where it's earned, or the foreign-owned companies (of which there are many) paying their proper share of tax, but sending profits outside the UK.

It will be interesting post-brexit how the government treats these issues. Will the benefits agency stop paying for kids outside the UK? Will they stop paying benefits to non-working immigrants full stop? After all there will be no EU rules enforcing payment. The HMRC is quick enough to squeeze the poor guy, the hapless contractor falling foul of the heinous IR35 rules. But will they turn the screws on the big corporations once we are an independent nation once again?

Will the money stop haemorrhaging out of the UK for once?