Burning Issue

Published on Wednesday 2 April 2008 21:46

Is Britain guilty of letting in too many immigrants?

NO

Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, head of migration, Institute for Public Policy Research

There is no denying that the UK has experienced an unprecedented period of immigration recently. But to conclude, as many people do, that this is a problem and that we should significantly curb further immigration is misguided. Migration ebbs and flows over time, with some periods of high net emigration and other periods, like the past decade or so, of high net immigration. There are some obvious drivers of recent immigration, such as high economic growth, low unemployment and lots of vacancies.

Rather than having too many immigrants, the UK has probably had the right level for the current economic conditions. More importantly, it is likely that the UK will need to do more to attract immigrants to meet labour-market needs and help ease the pressures of an ageing workforce.

There is already evidence that the biggest group of recent migrants, those who have come from central and eastern Europe, are not coming in such numbers, and many are returning home having saved some money and learned new skills. And as countries such as Australia and Canada lure more and more Brits abroad, the UK cannot afford to rest on its laurels. Staying dynamic and competitive will require more initiatives such as the Scottish Fresh Talent to attract the best and brightest from around the world. Many people will be worried about the pace of social change as a result of migration. It is certainly true that we have to do more to promote integration and community cohesion, but we should not make the mistake of thinking that turning the immigration tap off will help us address these challenges.

YES

Damian Hockney, leader of the One London Party in the London Assembly

Once again, it has taken the House of Lords to inject a dose of realism into a subject where politicians and "opinion formers" have long since lost the plot.

Free-market, anti-regulation campaigners like myself should, if the government is to be believed, be on the side of large-scale immigration, but the economic arguments to justify the flawed policy are simply illiterate.

The simple fact is that there are pros and cons to economic migration. Businesses and their customers might appear to be the main beneficiaries. Consumers of public services (health, housing and transport) are obvious losers. And, of course, in many cases, these are the same people. So you may be pleased that you can find a competent Polish plumber, but annoyed that you cannot get a hospital appointment because that same Polish plumber's wife is pregnant. At last, there is a grasp in one part of parliament of basic economics – that the pluses may be cancelled out by the minuses; and that the turmoil caused by large-scale immigration may do more social harm than good.

The key issue is why does Britain simultaneously have serious labour shortages and five million people of working age not working? This is about the failure of the education system. Then, of course, there is the issue of the European Union. Much economic immigration now comes from the new east European entrants to the EU. No UK government can do anything to restrict the inflow of these migrants, so the whole debate is bogus. If Britain wants to regain control over its borders it must first leave the EU. Then we can debate controlling immigration.