When trouble rears its ugly head it’s good to look for someone to blame, and this morning it is immigrants who are getting the rap.
But this time it’s an authoritative report from the House of Lords that has brought damning news for the Government, and with it, its immigration policy.
It all comes down to the difference between GDP, and GDP per capita. Immigration boosted the UK’s GDP by £6bn in 2006, found the report. But GDP per capita was barely boosted at all. In other words, sure, the UK economy has expanded thanks to immigration, but your average Brit is no better off.
Many employers benefit from immigration, found the report, but other sectors of the UK don’t. In particular, it is argued, low paid workers lose out. But perhaps the real damage is done to training.
Here, the parallels with the English premiership become obvious. English football teams are buying in talent from abroad, and as a result it is much harder for indigenous talent to break though into premiership first teams. This in turn affects the English national team.
It is clear there is a danger that English employers will recruit talent from abroad, rather than train up British workers. Down the line this could damage the already-waning system of apprenticeships in the UK.
Lord Wakeham, who chaired the inquiry, said, “The argument put forward by the Government that large-scale net immigration brings significant economic benefits for the UK is unconvincing. We have found no evidence to support their position.”
This is an authoritative report. Among the impressive list of Lords who helped produce it are former chancellors Nigel Lawson and Norman Lamont. And of course, the report has elicited cries of Told you so from the tabloid press, while Sir Andrew Green, of pressure group Migration watch, who made the headlines last year with similar findings, said the report had “torn to shreds the Government’s economic case for the massive levels of immigration which they have actively encouraged.”
The report also claimed that migrants are pushing up house prices.
It is difficult to argue with the findings of such a celebrated section of peers.
But it does seem the report has overlooked a number of key points. For one thing, it ignores the effect immigration has had on inflation. In fact immigration has led to lower wage increases, enabling lower interest rates – which helped promote the UK economy’s growth in recent years.
More tellingly, it has ignored the impact of immigration on competitiveness. Returning to the football analogy, it seems hard to believe that the influx of talented footballers from abroad has not led to improved skilled levels for English players.
But the real error that sits with this report is the way it has been presented.
Immigration is a complex subject. It offers advantages and disadvantages. It is quite possible that immigration has gone too far. Retuning to the football analogy for the last time, foreign players have boosted the premiership, but there are too many foreign players – with some teams occasionally fielding a line up without a single player from the home countries.
But – be in no doubt – immigration has been key to the UK’s economic success for centuries.
Some of the media coverage devoted to this topic seems to blame immigrants for everything. As such it is a form of bullying, and is tabloid journalism at its worse.
The House of Lords inquiry is important, but it’s vital that its conclusions are fully understood.
But the initial media accompanying the unveiling of this report is highly undesirable.
It’s human nature to react in extremes. We are seeing this now with the economy, and we will see it down the line as markets finally overreact to the economic gloom and over-discount bad news.
Some media coverage devoted to immigration has been little short of xenophobic. Some of the comments made by some members of the House of Lords inquiry this morning will just add fuel to this fire.
