Opponents of immigration have two main concerns: that immigrants are bad for our economy because they force wages down, and bad for our culture for they are at odds with our liberal views. Here, Randall Hansen writes that anti-liberal attitudes need to be challenged whatever their source – minorities who oppose liberal values or Europeans who scapegoat Muslims. He […]
The latest ONS figures suggest that net migration to the UK has hit a new record, meaning that the UK government’s pledge to reduce net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’ seems further than ever from being achieved. Christina Boswell explains that while the target is a failure, it has nonetheless managed to make the immigration debate one of […]
What is lost in the debate about refugees, which has hitherto focused on numbers, is a proper discussion about integration. In this article, Jenny Phillimore examines the steps that might support a two-way integration process.
The focus for the media and politicians responding to the European refugee crisis has largely been upon numbers and the debate about how many refugees each country […]
Migrants’ access to the NHS is part of an ongoing debate in the UK, with the Home Secretary recently arguing that it is “obvious” that migration has an impact on the availability of NHS services. Looking at the impact of immigration on NHS waiting times, Osea Giuntella, Catia Nicodemo and Carlos Vargas-Silva explain that services in areas with a […]
EU member states agreed on 14 September to strengthen actions against people smugglers in the Mediterranean as part of their response to the ongoing migration crisis. Mollie Gerver writes that instead of scaling up actions against smugglers, a better option may be to decriminalise the practice. She argues that criminal sanctions against people smuggling are counter-productive on the basis […]
In the wave of support for welcoming refugees there has been a surprising silence about the situation of asylum seekers already in the UK, writes Bridget Anderson. If we are to avoid a competition between marginalised and impoverished groups it is necessary to make the argument that better services for Syrian arrivals must mean better services for everybody.
There have been […]
What impact would Britain leaving the EU have on UK immigration policy? Jonathan Portes writes that exiting the EU would not be a magic solution to immigration problems. For a start, the UK would have to accept an exit from the single market and make alternative plans. He argues that difficult policy questions would still remain, as recent data […]
Rory Stewart’s plan for UK teenagers: the problem with making National Citizen Service compulsory
Why did the Conservatives lose the 1945 election?
Exploitable loopholes: how the self-employed non-resident status can be a route to child maintenance evasion
Brexit was not the voice of the working class nor of the uneducated – it was of the squeezed middle
The Brexit Prime Minister? Assessing Theresa May’s legacy
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We have been overlooking the relationship between immigration and international trade in services
We have been overlooking the relationship between immigration and international trade in services
The volume of international trade in services has grown rapidly over recent decades and, in fact, has outpaced growth in goods trade. Over the same period many developed countries experienced rapid growth in immigration. Gianmarco Ottaviano, Giovanni Peri and Greg Wright argue that while many studies have analysed the link between immigrants and trade in goods, the link between […]