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Rheinland Immigration to Sprague Closed
NEW LONDON - Thousands of workers gathered in Sprague's capital city last week in a this time peaceful protest against foreign immigration. Many lost their jobs or had their wages decreased as a result of the new immigration wave from Rheinland due to the Nuremberg Disaster and the Rheinland Civil War. Hacker's government predicted that the influx of cheap workers would lower the price of labour on the planet, but it was stressed that the government had other, more pressing concerns at the time. Hacker promised reforms after a worker strike in factory complex whose chief shareholder was Hacker himself, but these were postponed by the snap election.
The Whig Party under Prime Minister Hall promised to carry out these reforms and expand them if the future would allow after they had formed the new government in a coalition with Mountbatten's Royalists. However, the Lords had vetoed all attempts so far, their spokesman Lord Glyn claiming that "concessions to the so far mostly violent protests, with proven connections with the Molly Movement, would only encourage the violence to continue and strengthen the Molly cause". But as last week's protests were unusually peaceful, the Lords were left with no arguments for a veto and the Cabinet proceeded to carry out the reforms.
The first step has been agreed upon and will come into effect this Thursday, Sirius Mean Time. So far it implies:
- Immigration of persons born in Rheinland to Planet Sprague will from then on be closed.
- Persons born in Rheinland that have already obtained citizenship of Planet Sprague will not be affected by this motion.
- Immigration of persons born in Rheinland will still be open on other Bretonian planets.
MP Robert Bailey, leader of the Social Democrats, accused the Whigs of secretly organising the "supposed protests to justify their own political agenda" and that these "minor and woefully insufficient reforms are merely intended to divert attention from what really matters." These accusations are based on rumours that have been circling the social networks. These rumours claim that the Synth Tea stands that were placed during the protest and offered free tea to the protesters were financed by the Whig Party. One user claimed that the tea contained a dose of sedatives, but this has remained unconfirmed and highly criticised. The Whig Party has denied any involvement.
Whatever the case, he price of labour on Planet Sprague is expected to stabilise by next month. It remains to be seen what the next step of reforms will include.
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