Putting prosperity and growth before arbitrary migration targets – here’s the speech I’d write for the prime minister tomorrow“When we came to power, I said that Britain was open for business. I also said that we would return net migration to the level of the early 1990s, when it averaged about 50,000 a year. We thought we could square this circle. We were wrong. But it is worth asking why. Most commentators have focused on the relative economic performance of the UK and the eurozone over the past two years in particular.High youth unemployment in countries such as Spain and Greece, combined with the UK’s flexible labour market – which excels in creating jobs for motivated workers – has indeed led to a significant increase in migration, from the countries of southern Europe in particular. But the importance of this factor should not be exaggerated. In fact, net migration from “old Europe” – the 15 states that were members in 2004 – is only about 25,000 a year above its long-run average. And migration from the new member states, although still high, is well down on its peak of the mid-2000s. Continue reading...
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