How Brexit Britain became Europe's most migrant-friendly country (FT)

[pellinore]

Figures show that the UK has become easier to get into than some other countries in the EU – despite us supposedly taking back control

To pile irony upon irony, it would appear that a country attached to the Afro-Eurasian landmass, which is a fully paid-up subscriber to the single market and surrounded by nine others, is finding it easier to control its borders than “a fortress built by nature”.

In 2022, there was a big surge in net migration across Europe when the movement restrictions that had been put in place during Covid were dropped. Last year, numbers began to normalise. Net migration fell by 59 per cent in Sweden, 55 per cent in Germany, 52 per cent in Austria, 49 per cent in Denmark and 43 per cent in Belgium. (It flatlined in France and Italy but at a much lower base.) 

However, in the UK it fell by just 11 per cent, with net migration equating to 10 new migrants per 1,000 people in the population over the course of 2023, the second-highest level on record. This means that net migration to the UK was equivalent to 1 per cent of the population last year, compared with 0.8 per cent in Germany, 0.5 per cent in Italy and 0.3 per cent in France. 

When the UK was part of the EU, we had much tighter rules on immigration from non-EU countries in order to compensate for arrivals taking advantage of free movement within the European bloc. 

How Brexit Britain became Europe's most migrant-friendly country (archive.ph)

Edited September 14 by pellinore