What would you think of a policy that pretty much, forthwith, limited immigration in to the UK to an 'Australian model', say? (where, for instance, it's bloody hard to get a residents visa but once you have one, fairly easy to get citizenship. I know the model may have changed from the 'points system' they used to use where you got more points for being educated, English speaking, in a high demand trade or profession, being within a certain age band etc etc).
What would you think?
OK, I recognise that various treaties etc we've signed up to means we cannot prevent an EU influx but let's say that was also under discussion.
Before anyone skim-reads this and shouts' racist', no I'm not. I am not suggesting we bar anyone as a result of their race. Being able to speak the language of your adopted country isn't a function of race, for instance.
But I am wondering how different Britain might look and function if we really did slow the rate of immigration right down and then only to those people we need and who would be net contributors to our society (yes, unlike many of our own people, but that's a different story!).
Could we ultimately see gains in the environment as our population gradually fell to something more sustainable? Would we see more social cohesion as previous groups of immigrants had far more time to assimilate before the next group arrive to 'threaten' their feeling of stability (it is to be noted that many of the strongest supporters of limiting immigration are the most recently arrived immigrants themselves as of course they often find themselves on the lower rungs and naturally aren't pleased to find themselves being squeezed by the resources being stretched to accommodate the next group. We've all done geography where we see how, for most ethnic groups, they arrive in a new country, all live close together in a specific area, then, over a few years, begin to move on up and out to have their 'place' repopulated with a new, distinct immigrant group).
I was going to add another bunch of caveats about how what I'm saying doesn't mean this or that; then I thought, my musing can stand alone. Do you think the UK should halt the current immigration model it uses and rethink to one that is very selective and prescriptive? Pros and cons?
Note this is in 'politics' as immigration is a political issue.