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In the cacophony of figures and forecasts unveiled during the Chancellor’s budget speech, one number remained conspicuously absent – the total population of the UK.
Official statistics indicate a significant surge in the UK population, climbing from 61.3 million on the brink of the 2008 financial crisis to over 68 million today, marking a 10% increase in just 16 years. Despite economic upheavals like the banking crisis, Brexit, and the Covid pandemic, the influx of people into the country shows no signs of abating.
While Westminster seems to have turned a deaf ear to this crucial metric, a handful of MPs and peers, including Migration Watch UK President Lord Green of Deddington, have persistently attempted to raise awareness about its significance. As Iain Martin of The Times astutely observed:
“Someone who deserves credit for predicting this is Lord Green. When the former diplomat founded Migration Watch more than 20 years ago he was dismissed as a racist and mocked for saying that we might have to prepare for an increase in population of two million per decade.”
Martin continues:
“If, as a country, we wanted to do this, he said at the time, politicians should be honest with voters about the implications of adding to the population a number equivalent to a city the size of Birmingham every few years.”
Recent revelations buried within the budget documents shed light on an even steeper rise than previously estimated. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now predicts an adult population of 57.3 million by the forecast’s end, a million people higher than just four months prior. However, the challenge lies not in merely tallying numbers but in comprehending the profound implications of such rapid demographic shifts – the impact on housing, public services, social cohesion and productivity…
This is a preview of Migration Watch’s free weekly newsletter. Please consider signing up to the newsletter directly, you can do so here and will receive an email copy of the newsletter every Friday as soon as it is released.