Vote Leave’s ‘Migrant Myth’ – why migration is good for the UK’s economy

With just a week to go until the EU referendum, the Leave campaign appears to have taken a steady lead in the polls. Why? One word: immigration.

Polly Toynbee illustrated the feelings of some Londoners in her article for the Guardian on Monday. At a surgery held by Barking MP Margaret Hodge, her constituents made it clear that Leave was the only way they would vote – based almost solely on immigration. One said: “When I get out at the station, I think I’m in another country.” These sentiments are amplified by the right wing media running headlines such as “Fury over plot to let 1.5m Turks into Britain” – meaning that the entire referendum rests on the shoulders of Britain’s border policy.

But amongst all the rhetoric, and two-ing and fro-ing, and the fighting between Bob Geldof and Nigel Farage on flotillas on the Thames, its easy to forget the facts; which show that, on the contrary, migrants contribute far more to the UK economy than they cost in benefits.

1) “Migrants are a drain on our economy”

Germany, who took almost double the amount of migrants from EU member states in 2014, have benefitted from a boost to their economy; an influx of foreign workers boosted employment in Germany to its highest since reunification in 1990, alongside steady GDP growth.

By welcoming migrants, the UK is likely to see the same benefits; the UK’s flexible labour market means migrants find it relatively easy to find work, particularly when compared with countries with stricter labour market regulation. And despite other European countries seeing a fall in employment over the last four years – Italy by 425,000 and Spain by 375,000, to name just a few – the UK has seen a total employment increase of over 1,000,000.

2) “Migrants come here to take advantage of British benefits”

Accord to a House of Commons Library briefing paper on Migrants and Benefits, just 2.2 percent of benefit claimants in February 2015 were EU migrants. In total, Non-UK nationals were less likely to be receiving key DWP out-of-work benefits than those born in the UK, and out of the ten top nationalities registering for UK benefits, only three were within the EU. So how much would leaving the EU to stop ‘EU migrants coming to the UK to live on benefits’ really make a difference?

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has conceded the ability for the UK to restrict migrants’ access to benefits for the first four years of their residence as part of a reformed EU membership for the UK – if we vote to Stay, this should no longer be a problem. But its clear that this is just a precaution – given the UK’s receptive jobs market, the primary motive for migration towards the UK is not benefit fraud, as Nigel Farage would have us believe, but the very real possibility of finding work and contributing to the economy. 43 percent of migrants from EU14 countries came for a definite job, followed by 27 percent moving to study at the UK’s world class universities – often then graduating as a skilled worker into our labour market.

3) “Immigration is a one way street”

It is a fact often forgotten that the right to migrate to other EU countries is mutual. There were an estimated 1.2 million UK-born people living in other EU countries in 2015, most of them live in Spain, Ireland and France. Those who choose to move to Spain are often retired, and in their own words, enjoy the use of Spain’s famously good National Health Service. In the year to September 2015 around 40,000 more British nationals left the UK to live abroad than came back, and before 2008 the net number of British emigrants outstripped that of any other EU country at the time.

The overwhelming evidence is that migrants come to the UK to work, and therefore contribute to the economy – not to claim benefits. The figures speak for themselves: countries who take the most migrants, such as Denmark, Sweden and Germany, have booming economies – with GDPs far greater than ours. A strong social security system and training programmes allows both skilled and unskilled migrants to find jobs – to very positive effects.

And whilst the argument rages over the cost of EU membership to the UK, let it not be forgotten how much the referendum itself has cost; according to the latest figure from the Cabinet Office, the total will be around £142.2 million. If we can spend that on a year long campaign that brings out the worst of British politics, we can certainly afford to integrate migrants into our country and watch them boost our economy.

17/06/2016