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THREAD I know that there is a pandemic on, but that really is no excuse for @migrationwatch rehashing an already debunked piece from last year in the hope that repeating it makes it less like the disingenuous fear-mongering it blatantly is. 1/ https://twitter.com/MigrationWatch/status/1309476129003184128
The first issue is an age old one, using big looking numbers but taking them out of context so they look scary. @Migrationwatch quote the figure of 300,000 people coming to the UK each year. That is approximately 0.45% of the UK population, not exactly "massive" as claimed. 2/
To put this in context, 200,000 descend on a farm in Somerset for a festival and hardly counts as a national emergency. If you got a 0.45% pay rise would you call it "massive"? But 300,00 looks scary so it helps anti-immigration groups push their agenda, so they use it. 3/
Then there is the matter of taking information as a whole out of context. Saying UK population is growing also sounds scary, depending on how you phrase it, but ignores that the global population is going up at the same time, and for the most part by a far larger proportion. 4/
If you take World Bank population growth data for example you see UK population growth rate is 0.6%, again are we honestly arguing 0.6% is "massive. One thing missed here is that as well as people "adding to population" others are living longer. 5/
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.GROW?most_recent_value_desc=true
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.GROW?most_recent_value_desc=true
But what about "costs" though? Again, we need to address "big number no context". UK GDP in 2017 was £2,071.67 billion, so even if wholly accurate £4.3 billion would be 0.2%, again not a huge amount in grand scheme. Issue is it isn't wholly accurate. 6/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/281744/gdp-of-the-united-kingdom-uk-since-2000/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/281744/gdp-of-the-united-kingdom-uk-since-2000/
The reality of the situation is that "costs" of immigration are notoriously hard to calculate. A large part of the problem, as identified by the Oxford Migration Observatory, is in how much of taxes paid by businesses are attributed to migrants. 7/ https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-fiscal-impact-of-immigration-in-the-uk/
Even this does not necessarily give a full picture though as basic supply and demand shows that migrants need to eat, have shelter etc, you know, live. So, they are spending and actually help create jobs through an increased demand, which then increases the economy as a whole. 8/
What about housing though? Only 8% at most of UK is developed, of which 1% is housing. So that is 1% of land needed to house current 66.65 million population. Pardon me if I don't think we have a major issue here with being overpopulated. 9/
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/808325/Land_Use_Experimental_statistic_England_2017.pdf
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/808325/Land_Use_Experimental_statistic_England_2017.pdf
Where issue really is is a lack of building by successive governments, not immigration. For years governments have failed to meet their own targets on building, and we know how @migrationwatch feels about "missing targets", but it's not migrants’ fault 10/ https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7671/
In fact, with an aging population the only way to resolve the housing crisis is to have more migrants. Migrants account for 13% of workers in the construction of buildings, 40% in London and account for about 10% overall of construction workforce. 11/
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/migrantlabourforcewithintheconstructionindustry/august2018
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/migrantlabourforcewithintheconstructionindustry/august2018
This need becomes more apparent when you look at UK's aging population and factor in that 47% of UK nationals in the construction sector were aged 45 and over in 2018 and how long it takes to trained a skilled construction worker. 12/
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/migrantlabourforcewithintheconstructionindustry/2018-06-19#:~:text=Age%20of%20the%20workforce,workforce%20aged%2045%20and%20over.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/migrantlabourforcewithintheconstructionindustry/2018-06-19#:~:text=Age%20of%20the%20workforce,workforce%20aged%2045%20and%20over.
Actually, while we are on the topic of jobs it's worth coming to the whole "pressure on public services" argument. This is a reason why re-upping an old report is probably not helpful during a pandemic which has highlighted how important staff are in the public sector. 13/
Non-UK nationals currently make up about 12% of UK's healthcare sector, a sector which even a cursory google search tells you has been understaffed for years and struggles to recruit enough people, but hey, who needs people working in public services? 14/
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/internationalmigrationandthehealthcareworkforce/2019-08-15
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/internationalmigrationandthehealthcareworkforce/2019-08-15
Idea migrants are putting pressure on public services also ignores minor matter of how much more migrants pay into it them UK nationals. You could listen to rhetoric of likes of @migrationwatch and miss the bit where migrants don't get free benefits. 15/ https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/how-much-pay
There is a thing in UK called "No Recourse to Public Funds", as shown in attached government release, it's theoretically designed to ensure that migrants don't "put pressure on services". What it actually does is cause many to end up in destitution. 16/ https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/05/05/no-recourse-to-public-funds-nrpf/
So, we've addressed how @migrationwatch uses "big figures, no context" to make it seem like there is an issue. The housing crisis isn't caused by migrants. How cost of immigration isn't as simple as they make out and how migrants aren't "putting pressure on public services". 17/
That leaves us with one last claim to look at, the whole "voice of the 30million" bit. @migrationwatch have been using this one for some time now, but they tend to ignore public opinion towards immigration tends to be more positive than negative. 18/ https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/uk-public-opinion-toward-immigration-overall-attitudes-and-level-of-concern/
The "30 million" claim isn't just "big number, no context", it's a direct attempt to try and gain more support by presenting themselves as being the voice of a majority opinion, except they aren't. In fact, the support for reducing immigration is slowly going down. 20/
Where @migrationwatch focus is in trying to sound plausible, rational and even caring. It's always worth remembering though this is an organisation which had to issue a formal apology to a parliamentary committee for making "misleading claims" 21/ https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmpublic/Immigration/memo/ISSB30.htm
Immigration debate is complex, but part of reason for that is that when you are talking about people's lives you can't just look at things in isolation. The very act of living creates connections and links which may not jump out. That's why context and facts are so important. 22/
