Labor must end Britain’s dangerous migration addiction

For some of us, Boris Johnson’s recent book tour has been a welcome relief. Finally, the former Prime Minister says what we always knew to be true: that his post-Brexit migration boom was a deliberate ploy to prop up our ailing economy.

In an interview, Johnson admitted that the so-called “Boriswave” of post-Brexit immigration was not an administrative error. He claimed his government simply needed to open the borders to “deal with inflation”. Absurd as this may sound, Johnson’s approach is popular in Westminster. At the first sign of economic hardship, many politicians immediately loosen immigration rules and announce a visa bonanza.

Unfortunately for Britain, this misguided policy survived the change of government in July. Like Johnson before them, Keir Starmer’s Labor has no plan for growth other than increasing our population.

As Britain teeters on the brink of recession, with business confidence plummeting, all signs point to a government still seeing immigration as the surest route to growth. Just this week, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, was reported to be considering a separate ‘Scottish visa’ system, designed to attract migrants north of the border, an idea which was quickly rejected after the widespread criticism.

Adding millions of people to the country may increase GDP (the size of an economy), but not GDP per capita, the much more useful measure of an economy’s success per person. In real terms, migration-driven growth is little more than an accounting gimmick. The economic fortunes of ordinary citizens do not improve, but politicians avoid the scary headlines associated with a recession.

But unlike most accounting tricks, this one has some nasty real-world drawbacks. This is particularly true of a system that seems deliberately designed to attract low-skilled labor from the developing world, while making life difficult for highly skilled migrants from countries like Australia and the United States. Unlike other measures that facilitate growth, migration contributes to increased crime and a torn social fabric.

For example, look no further than the Welsh town of Aberystwyth. Just this week, an Iraqi goat herder was arrested in the sleepy Welsh town for his alleged involvement in a criminal drug ring. Hawre Ahmed came to the UK “looking for a better life” but was found to have used barbershops and car washes to launder drug money. At least Britain’s cash-only barbershop industry is still booming, despite the post-pandemic lethargy in the rest of our economy. Every cloud has a silver lining.

If Labor were serious about growth, they would start by tackling the structural blockers. They would stop pursuing an ideological energy policy that is putting many of our major industrial manufacturers out of business. They would also introduce measures to allow companies to make long-term capital investments in mechanization, automation and robotics.

Most importantly, they would reform our planning system to allow people to build infrastructure that enables growth: nuclear power stations, railways and houses. I can’t hold my breath.

Even if Labor does not embark on any of these necessary reforms, artificial growth driven by migration must end. We can no longer patch up the cracks in our economy, especially when the social consequences are so dire. We deserve more than an accounting hoax designed to save the blushes of our politicians.

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