CONCERN over the fall of 106,000 in the level of net migration to the UK in the past year has been focused on whether or not this amounts to the first signs of a ‘Brexodus’.
For some it is a sign that European workers are starting to turn their backs on the UK, put off by a sense of being unwelcome, or by fears about the impact of Brexit on their own status.
Others disagree, suggesting that it is the weaker value of the pound which is making Britain a less attractive place to live, work and do business.
But that itself is a symptom of Brexit. Either way, the fact that numbers coming here have fallen so sharply is worrying.
Not all are concerned, of course. According to Migration Watch the news is welcome. And levels of net migration remain much higher still than the “tens of thousands” the Conservatives pledged – implausibly and some would say cynically — to reduce them to. In addition, to state the obvious, net migration figures indicate that people are still coming here in greater numbers than are leaving.
It may be too early, as immigration minister Brandon Lewis insists, to say a ‘Brexodus’ is under way. These are the first full-year migration figures since the Brexit vote and it remains to be seen whether they constitute a trend. But it does appear that the UK is becoming a less attractive place to live and work. If that continues, we will all be worse off.
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