ENGLISH people will continue to receive benefits even if they make no attempt to speak, read or write in English.
New rules will deny benefits to those who have had the fewest opportunities to learn the native language, while offering a weekly stipend to those who have heard it every day of their lives but still refuse to make proper use of it.
Nicolae Stamescu, from the Romanian town of Covasna, said: “I try do English but it take long time. How you at Romanian today?”
Nathan Muir, an unemployed sociology graduate from Exeter, said: “I try do English but it take long time. Look at funny thing on phone.”
He added: “I get money from guvnerment coz school not help my brain.”
Julian Cook, professor of two-tier systems at Roehampton University, said: “The key principle is that the better your command of English the more money you should get from the taxpayer.
“For example, MPs, those nice people who run the Royal Bank of Scotland and Her Majesty the Queen.”
