Crimes by EU Citizens Trebled in UK since Bulgaria, Romania Accession

I see the Brits are at it again. Dominic Raab from the Conservative Party has claimed that "Johnny Foreigner" crime has "exploded" since Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU.  Raab is a well known anti-EU "Little Englander" who obviously lacks even a basic understanding of statistics. But why let statistics come in the way of the distorted truth, Dominic?! Especially when you have another agenda?

While crime committed by EU citizens has increased since 2007 the biggest offenders are countries who joined before 2007. Three of the top ten offenders were founder members (France, Italy and The Netherlands) who joined in the 1950's while two others (Ireland and Portugal) joined in the 1970's. The worst offender, Poland, joined in 2004.  So basically what the figures prove is that there is no relationship between enlargement in 2007 and and increase in crimes committed by EU citizens since then. But xenophobes like Raab rarely let facts get in the way of their nasty little prejudices. The other, not inconsiderable point, is what kinds of crime are we talking about here? For instance do the figures include traffic offenses?

Two of the top three offenders joined the EU in 2004 and account for approximately 30% of the overall total. But the increase in crime levels only started after 2007. I wonder would the increase have had anything to do with the global recession? Nah....surely not. What happened was that all the Poles and  Lithuanians embarked on a crime spree when Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007. They probably thought the Romanians and Bulgarians would steal everything before they had a chance. That must have been it. Pass me another doughnut Homer, will ya? My brain is starting to hurt again.

Of course what Raab omitted to say was how the UK has benefitted from EU accession and enlargement. But that would required a balanced viewpoint. Since 2007 exports to Bulgaria have increased by 45% and the UK is now the 4th biggest investor here. In general, the Brits have done well since they joined the EU. Now if EU enlargement has been so bad for them why don't they leave?

Raab also omitted to include figures for crimes committed by British citizens in the EU. Now that might be an interesting statistic to see, as anyone who has witnessed the idiotic behaviour of adorable vomiting British tourists to the Black Sea can testify!

For the record, over 9.5 million crimes were recorded in England and Wales last year i.e. about 25,000 a day. The UK is the most crime ridden country in the EU. Only 100 crimes a day are committed by EU citizens. This equates to about 0.004% of total crime in the UK. Bulgarians were responsible for a massive 296 crimes in the UK in 2010 i.e less than 1 a day. They should all be sent home immediately!

I would have thought that Dominic had more important things to to worry about? Like the 99.99% of crime caused by his compatriots. Or maybe he could see what he could do with the hundreds of English rioters and looters? David, can you find something useful for him to do? At least introduce him to some basic statistical concepts such as correlation and causation?