The government’s decision to impose an income requirement suggests that the true motivation is simply to reduce numbers, as every British family 'stuck' abroad, or separated, helps to reduce net migration.
Jenny Pennington is a Researcher at IPPR
New research published today lays bare the negative impact of the UK’s management of immigration on British people. The report, from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration, shows that the government’s efforts to bear down on immigration numbers through tightening rules on family migration has led to hardship for many.
Examples include British families ‘stuck’ abroad, young British children growing up without a parent and in one case a breast-feeding mother separated from her British baby. According to calculations in the report, as many as 47 per cent of people in employment in the UK would fail to meet the income level needed (£18,600 p/a) to sponsor a non-EEA partner to come to the UK.
The report shows how the government’s target to reduce net migration is dominating policy making in this area. The stated aim of the rules is to ensure that migrants coming through the family route are not a ‘burden’ on the state.
However there are much more direct ways of doing this, for example restricting access to benefits or applying higher visa fees. The government’s decision to impose an income requirement (with entirely predictable consequences) instead suggests that the true motivation is simply to reduce numbers – every British family ‘stuck’ abroad, or separated, helps to reduce net migration.
In response to the research, Mark Reckless, a representative of the Home Affairs Select Committee, was keen to speak to the latter point. Speaking on the Today programme he argued that the limits on family migration are vindicated by their contribution to reducing overall ‘net migration’.
However falling migration doesn’t necessarily reduce public concerns. Polling figures released last week show that even though net migration has fallen by almost 40 per cent across the last year, almost two thirds of the population continue to believe that immigration is still rising
Instead of its single-minded focus on net migration, the government needs to confront the difficult trade-offs that migration policy raises, some of which have been clearly illustrated by today’s report. The government should take action to ensure that family migration contributes to life in the UK.
Rather than an arbitrary income test, the government should focus on ensuring that all family migrants come with a satisfactory level of English to be able to participate in and contribute to society, on making sure that the UK welfare system and labour market are fair for everyone, and on supporting integration in local communities.
The APPG report shows how we all lose when migration policy is led by blunt targets about migration numbers. The consequences of the government’s family migration policy may have been unintended, but they were predictable.
37 Responses to “Family Migration: Brits lose out when policy is led by blunt targets”
LB
ven so, I reject your assumption that everyone who works in the public sector or is in receipt of tax credits (possibly due to low wages) is some kind of sinister self-interested vampire on poverty
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Never said that.
I said everyone, low paid or rich, in the public sector gets all of their money from the private sector. Even the money they pay in taxes, comes from the private sector.
I’m asking for tax cuts, not tax credits. The reason is the DWP take 5% of all money they administer in charges. Far worse than any rip off pension. Lets cut them out of the loop.
I don’t think less immigration will be a panacea. I’m still in favour of immigration. You’ve not be reading what I’ve been writting.
I’m not in favour of low skilled migration, because of the results on you and your relatives.
I’m in favour of low tax. It cuts out lots of waste and gives people a choice. If the poor want 5 a day coordinators, they can of course pay for them. However, its clear, they would rather spend their money on other things. They should be allowed to do so.
Rising wage costs either result in offshoring, or in automation for certain jobs. For some jobs its hard.
For example, we do now have people going off shore for medical treatment, because the costs are too high here. Dental treatment for example. However in general its hard. Likewise for restaurants. However, you have automation in the drinks industry with vending machines. Why? Labour costs are too high.
If you look at France and Germany, there are huge pressures to automate, because of high labour costs.
So why not follow the Australian route if its such a nirvana? The only difference I would make is not to have a points based system. That relies on civil servants making up a system, and they are the ones that have run up a 7 trillion debt.
Instead, use the tax system. You get a bond to say you will pay more than 11.5K a year in tax, for each year in advance. Then at the end of the year, your tax return is checked. Above 11.5K, a thank you. [Would be nice for the rest of us]. If not the bond is called, and the government gets the difference, and you have 3 months to leave.
Cutting immigration results in more jobs for people on welfare. So they get jobs. That pushes down state spending. That can be used to abolish employer’s NI. End result, wage costs for companies can be kept the same or reduced, resulting in more jobs not less.
Here’s a thought experiment for you. Why not force all companies to pay 10 times what they do now? Any effects? Why stop at small increases as you say, why not go for big ones and get more of the benefits you claim?
Seanino
Do you want to keep out non-EEA immigrants or foreigners in general, because EU citizens who move here are far more numerous and haven’t paid into the system either.
Those EU citizens living in Britain are not subject to this law and can bring in spouses from anywhere, which puts Brits at a disadvantage in their own country.
If you want to see how absurd and cruel this is in practice, read the APPG report http://www.appgmigration.org.uk/family-inquiry