Prospects For Scotland’s Population Not Much Affected By Brexit

Scottish Government admits that Scotland’s population would continue to grow even if EU migration were reduced to half its current level The Scottish Government has admitted that Scotland’s population would grow by 5% (or around 270,000) between 2014 and 2039 even if EU net migration were reduced to half its present level (currently 8,000-9,000 each […]

Scotland’s Need For Skilled Migrant Workers

Summary: 1. The Scottish Government has claimed that Scotland needs continued free movement of people for EU citizens when the UK leaves the European Union, to deal with a ‘skills gap’.[1] But new analysis of the Labour Force Survey suggests that the proportion of Scotland’s total highly-skilled workforce comprised of EU migrants is roughly similar to […]

National Institute For Economic And Social Research Fails To Convince With Assertion That Reducing Migration Would Lead To Slower Growth

A new paperpublished by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) claims that reducing migration to the UK would result in slower growth for the UK economy with a key driver being the impact lower migration would have on productivity. However, given that prospective post-Brexit restrictions on migration would likely restrict the 80% of […]

Migration Watch Press Comment On Net Migration Statistics

Commenting, Mr Alp Mehmet, Vice Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:“These disappointing figures underline the need to take a strong position on immigration in the Brexit negotiations. Even if net migration was brought down to 265,000 a year the UK population would still be growing at half a million a year, every year for the […]

Brexit Negotiation: Publication Of Uk Objectives

Summary 1. There is a perfectly feasible way forward on immigration which meets the main concerns of all participants, except for some relating to new arrivals of low paid migrant workers. Early publication of the UK’s objectives (but not the strategy) would help calm concerns without weakening our hand. Introduction 2. In advance of the […]

There Are Lessons To Be Learned From The Uk’s Unsuccessful ‘renegotiation’

Daniel Korski, the former Deputy Director of David Cameron’s Policy Unit in Number 10, has published a comprehensive account of why he believes the referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU was won by those advocating our departure. See here. One particular section has garnered considerable media attention and is worthy of a few comments. In […]

Impact On Scotland’s Economy Of Reducing Migration Into Lower-skilled Work

The Scottish Government’s recent paper(read here) on the implications of Brexit for Scotland’s economic performance suggests restrictions on European migration could increase skills shortages with adverse implications for the economy. The paper provides neither references nor any evidence to support this assertion. In fact, the impact of immigration on the Scottish economy is far less than on the […]