Non-EU migration increase paints a positive picture – but not the whole story
At points over the past few years – amid apocalyptic warnings of Brexit’s impact on the capital and then Covid-19’s actual impact on our streets – there have been moments when you’d be forgiven for wondering about the future prosperity of the Square Mile and the wider London area.
As life has returned to our streets and the capital has cemented its lead in areas like green finance and fintech, those worries have appeared misplaced: new Home Office immigration figures confirm that suspicion. Proponents of a ‘global Brexit’ were often mocked by the twitterati for saying that powers gained at least in part from a decades-long campaign led by Nigel Farage could be used for a more liberal immigration system. But there are signs it is happening, albeit imperfectly.
The number of work visas issued last year was 25 per cent up on 2019, the vast majority from non-EU countries. It’s a similar story on student visas, which are the financial lifeblood of most of our world-leading universities. Liberalising our skilled visa regime has, as suggested if not predicted, opened up Britain to more people from outside the EU who want to come here and work.
That’s good news. London and the UK economy have benefitted massively over the years from immigration from all over the world; the capital’s history starts with a trading port and to this day it is global capital and talent that make it great. When it is managed, and pressures of population increases reduced through half-decent planning, immigration is and will remain a net positive.
But whilst all this is good news, it remains unclear what the impact of Brexit will be on our appeal to talented youngsters from our closest European neighbours. The system is similarly liberal for those looking to come here from Paris or Berlin, too. Anti-immigration rhetoric and plans to send other, more desperate immigration prospects to Rwanda don’t do much for that Global Britain image.