2016

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 […]

Migration Watch UK response to Treasury Select Committee Chairman Rt. Hon. Andrew Tyrie MP writing for Open Europe The Rt Hon. Andrew Tyrie MP writes for Open Europe (see full report here) that the Government needs to state clearly that stronger controls on free movement “may also carry an economic and fiscal cost for the UK, […]

1. Professors Dustmann and Frattini from the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration at University College, London have commented (see here) on our paper on the Fiscal Impact of Immigration to the UK published earlier this year (see here). 2. This blog picks up on their key points 3. They note: MW [Migration Watch] […]

A new report from the Social Market Foundation suggests that an economic slowdown following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union will lead to a slowing of migration – perhaps to the tens of thousands – without requiring the imposition of any actual controls on migration. Any such conclusion is thoroughly unsound, relying on […]

The ONS has today released the Annual Population Estimates for mid-2015. The UK population is now 65.1 million, an increase of 513,000 on the previous year. See the full ONS data here. The increase in the population was down to two factors, natural change (births minus deaths) and net migration. Of the half a million […]

1. Much attention has been paid to the apparent failure of the government to reduce non-EU migration. However, it would seem that this is very largely due to the significant number of students who have remained in the UK, legally or otherwise. 2. Non-EU net migration has averaged 172,000 in the last ten years, as […]

1. Overall, migrants in the UK have been, and continue to be, a net fiscal cost to the UK Exchequer. Only recent migrants from the EU14 have made a net positive fiscal contribution. Immigration has not been shown to have any significant impact, either positive or negative, on GDP per capita, a key measure of […]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today (see June 14th 2016 BBC News article here) confirmed that the UK does not have to pay child benefit and child tax credits to citizens of other EU countries if they are not working and as a result have no right to reside in the UK. The Court’s […]

During last night’s ITV debate Nigel Farage claimed that we would have to build a home every four minutes, night and day in order to house new migrants and their families. On the ITV Ten O’Clock News that followed, Allegra Stratton, the Political Editor challenged Mr Farage’s figures, and said that the correct figure was […]

Various newspapers have today carried reports that two men have been charged with people smuggling after a boat carrying 18 Albanian nationals was rescued off the Kent coast. For context, below is data from the Home Office on the outcome of asylum applications lodged by Albanian nationals. In the past, Home Office data shows that […]