Snapshot of migration to the U.K.
MigrationWatch | 10.06.2003 21:49
Snapshot of migration to the U.K.
On present trends we can expect a net inflow of at least two million migrants every decade. A Home Office report (Jan 2001) expects increasing immigration for the foreseeable future. Continued immigration on this scale will have a substantial effect on our society. The UN predicts that it will add over 7 million to our population
by 2050.
Until the early 1980s the outflow of migrants exceeded or balanced the inflow so there was no resultant increase in the population of the U.K.
However, since 1994, the net inflow from non EU countries has trebled from about 60,000 per year in the previous decade to 178,000 in 2001. Illegal immigrants are additional to this total. 47,000 were detected in the year 2000 so a similar number undetected would be a low estimate. Adding this brings the total to 230,000 a year or more than 2 million every decade [1].
Asylum seekers comprise about half the total. We now take more asylum seekers than Germany and twice as many as France. The cost in 2002 was £1.8 billion.
The Asylum and Immigration Act (2002) was mainly concerned with speeding up the asylum process but, since more than three quarters of those refused stay on anyway, this has little effect on the inward flow. In 2002 about 110,700 arrived (including dependants); 13,300 were removed.
Changes to the settlement rules for spouses and partners in 1997 mean that the flow of dependants, continuous since the 1960s, will increase further and continue indefinitely.
There is no economic case for large scale inward migration. Any labour shortages could largely be dealt with by existing arrangements for 5 year employment permits. The argument that immigration is needed to support an increasingly elderly population is false.
The impact on housing will be considerable, especially in London
and the South East where more than two-thirds of the new migrants are settling.
Migrants now comprise more than 27% of London's population.
This proportion is expected to increase considerably.
On present trends we can expect a net inflow of at least two million migrants every decade. A Home Office report (Jan 2001) expects increasing immigration for the foreseeable future. Continued immigration on this scale will have a substantial effect on our society. The UN predicts that it will add over 7 million to our population
by 2050.
Until the early 1980s the outflow of migrants exceeded or balanced the inflow so there was no resultant increase in the population of the U.K.
However, since 1994, the net inflow from non EU countries has trebled from about 60,000 per year in the previous decade to 178,000 in 2001. Illegal immigrants are additional to this total. 47,000 were detected in the year 2000 so a similar number undetected would be a low estimate. Adding this brings the total to 230,000 a year or more than 2 million every decade [1].
Asylum seekers comprise about half the total. We now take more asylum seekers than Germany and twice as many as France. The cost in 2002 was £1.8 billion.
The Asylum and Immigration Act (2002) was mainly concerned with speeding up the asylum process but, since more than three quarters of those refused stay on anyway, this has little effect on the inward flow. In 2002 about 110,700 arrived (including dependants); 13,300 were removed.
Changes to the settlement rules for spouses and partners in 1997 mean that the flow of dependants, continuous since the 1960s, will increase further and continue indefinitely.
There is no economic case for large scale inward migration. Any labour shortages could largely be dealt with by existing arrangements for 5 year employment permits. The argument that immigration is needed to support an increasingly elderly population is false.
The impact on housing will be considerable, especially in London
and the South East where more than two-thirds of the new migrants are settling.
Migrants now comprise more than 27% of London's population.
This proportion is expected to increase considerably.
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