Let’s welcome immigration but also prepare for it

Imagine a new city the size of York or Portsmouth being built every year for 30 years. This, according to the Office of National Statistics, is what’s happening for the foreseeable future with immigration: forecasts are up from 145,000 to 190,000 a year. That’s net immigration, so the actual number of newcomers will be over half a million a year (the working figure is 565,000 a year or 1,540 a day) until at least 2030. The immigrants have transformed our population outlook. My native Scotland is acquiring people again, birth rates are up (as immigrants have more kids).
 
I’ve long been concerned that ministers rely on immigrants to keep the economy growing – yet refuse to address questions like “where will they live, who will teach their kids, who will tend their sick”. So the newcomers live in squalid conditions. It’s misery for them, and the deprived communities they tend to live in. My point is simple: if ministers genuinely believe 190,000 net immigrants will come (to put this in historic perspective click here) then we’re about to see the biggest influx of humanity ever seen in the history of these islands. So let’s acknowledge it, welcome it and properly prepare for it.