The Government will today be saying it has got a grip in migration on the back of a leaked forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility saying that net immigration this year will fall to 120,000 ( from 171,000 in 2025). But this does not address the concerns of so many people. The data is misleading.
We are not told the forecast number of leavers or arrivals but as a guide the 2025 number was arrived at as a result of 813,000 people migrating into the UK and 642,000 emigrating.
Some of those leaving were folks who had arrived in prior years. But several hundred thousand were Brits seeking a better life in a warmer country with lower taxes and a more rapidly growing economy. In other words net migration is falling partly because the numbers arriving are now equivalent to the population of Leeds as opposed to the population of Birmingham as it was a few years ago. But it is partly because more and more folks with wealth, ambition and drive want to get the hell out of here.
You will be told that those arriving are an economic windfall but with 54% of UK households net takers from the state according to the ONS I somehow doubt it. You may still argue that for greater diversity that is an economic price worth paying. Others might disagree.
But when Shabana Mahmood tells you that net immigration is falling fast look at the underlying reality not her meaningless headline.
We are not told the forecast number of leavers or arrivals but as a guide the 2025 number was arrived at as a result of 813,000 people migrating into the UK and 642,000 emigrating.
Some of those leaving were folks who had arrived in prior years. But several hundred thousand were Brits seeking a better life in a warmer country with lower taxes and a more rapidly growing economy. In other words net migration is falling partly because the numbers arriving are now equivalent to the population of Leeds as opposed to the population of Birmingham as it was a few years ago. But it is partly because more and more folks with wealth, ambition and drive want to get the hell out of here.
You will be told that those arriving are an economic windfall but with 54% of UK households net takers from the state according to the ONS I somehow doubt it. You may still argue that for greater diversity that is an economic price worth paying. Others might disagree.
But when Shabana Mahmood tells you that net immigration is falling fast look at the underlying reality not her meaningless headline.