Britain’s addiction to mass migration is becoming dangerous

As Rishi Sunak seeks desperately to prove he can get a grip on Britain’s sea border, it’s easy to forget the other border crisis. While less prominent than the small boats, the scale of legal net migration is a much bigger problem. And unlike asylum policy, it’s something our Government is entirely in control of. Yet, since 2019, net migration has almost tripled.

The Conservative manifesto in that year said that Britain would welcome highly skilled workers, it’s true. But it also said that “there will be fewer low-skilled migrants and overall numbers will come down”. So why is net migration running at 606,000, the highest figure on record? What happened to the promised rigour of an “Australian-style points based system”? The answer is that Britain has, voluntarily, adopted an immigration regime far more liberal than anything it had before it left the EU.

The most obvious, glaring problem is the salary threshold economic migrants must meet to qualify for a work visa. Astonishingly, this has been set at just £26,200 per year. The Government is expected to announce an increase in this floor to £30,000, but even this would be well below the median full-time salary (£34,963). And it would do nothing to close the back door built into the system: the shortage occupation list.

Intended to provide a smoothed route of entry for workers offering skills not readily available in the local labour market, this list is far too broad, and growing broader, extending well beyond doctors and nurses. MakeUK, the manufacturers’ trade body, is lobbying for welders, lab technicians and sheet metal workers to be added. Workers entering under this scheme can earn even less than the main threshold if they are paid just 80 per cent of the “going rate” for their industry, even if this is far below the national average.

Two-thirds of voters believe immigration is too high, yet Britain is stuck in a high migration system that the Whitehall machine is desperate to preserve. The Treasury is incentivised to preserve high numbers to keep GDP going up, no matter what it means for those already here. The Office for Budget Responsibility bakes high migration into its forecasts, making it impossible to lower numbers without falling foul of fiscal targets. Universities issue tens of thousands of student visas for low-grade courses to bring in cash.

This is not the economy people voted for in 2016 or 2019. High immigration of low-skilled workers is unfair, puts pressure on housing and public services and compresses the salaries of lower-paid wage earners. To restore British workers’ economic status and dignity, we must raise the minimum salary, limit the shortage list and train more workers here. Globalisation of labour markets is one of the major threats to the dignity of workers across the developed world. We have the freedom to change it.