Migration targets Options

[Sherlock]

"Theresa May's Team" (formerly known as the Conservative party, but understandably that has too many negative connotations) is giving the impression to voters that it will limit net migration to less than 100,000 a year.

Clearly either this isn't going to happen or, if it does, it will damage our economy seriously.

A glance around Newbury shows why this is the case. In recent years, in addition to the many migrants who have come from other European countries to work in our area and do jobs which we simply don't have bodies to do (West Berkshire unemployment is, in effect, close to zero) many of our local tech companies have recruited engineers and programmers, with many of them coming from India.

These are mostly male but often are accompanied by wives and young children. Many also have parents and other elderly relatives with them, presumably on tourist visas but these are notoriously difficult to enforce.

I don't know if anyone knows the numbers of workers from the sub-continent who are currently working in West Berkshire but lets assume it's in the order of 1500. If each male male worker from the sub-continent accounts for 3 migrants, that's 4500 from one region in one sector alone - approaching 5% of 100,000 (remembering that's a net target).

Although we have serial tax dodger Vodafone in our district employing many migrant workers it's likely that these highly skilled individuals make a high net contribution to the UK's financial health.

May's target seems insane in the light of the clear value of migrants to our country. She has made no efforts whatsoever (in spite of opposition from within her own Cabinet) to explain the contribution that migrants make to this country and how essential they are to our well-being. Her target is outright economic lunacy and yet she's about to get a landslide majority.