To think 335,000 extra people coming to the UK in a year is too high

[jdoe8]

Where will they all live? What jobs will they all do? I know it may help GDP, but that is irrelevant as GDP per head is the important thing.

It does seem to be race to the bottom with more part time work , uber type work and the country is borrowing more and more and the national debt is 35k per head now.

There are over 65 MILLION people in Britain. That net migration figure gives us a population increase of less than 0.5%.

why are people not internally migrating?

Where are they going to live?

www.eadt.co.uk/news/east_anglia_warning_over_shortage_of_houses_as_population_set_to_rise_by_500_000_in_region_1_1681484

That is in one year

That over 10 years plus the growth in population is a large number of people to provide homes and services for

There is no internal migration because people are getting by, the self employment route as mentioned is a big one. It was, until this year, that one could simply self declare to Dwp working 16hrs and maximise in work benefits.
There were no checks into earnings, hence the explosion of nail bars, hand car washes, dog services etc. These businesses were not viable previously. The rules have tightened a little now, however.

Fenella that is a HUGE increase-the size of a medium sized town. It just isn't sustainable. no housebuilding programe can keep pace with this year on year especially as people want to settle in already over populated urban areas

It is people working full time who are being hammered by negative wage inflation. Many jobs have been pulled down to minimum wage level, it will only worsen as it increases to £9 ph

no housebuilding programe can keep pace with this year on year

Even if immigration were to cease immediately, it would take at least a decade for any housebuilding programme to rectify the housing shortage.

Something I don't understand about the statistics & how migrants get counted.. .. if close to 200,000 of the netmigrants are students who "don't stay" for long, then why don't they mostly seem to get deducted in 3 yrs time when they finish their university courses (& presumably return to country of origin)?

There should be an only small annual net increase from those who originally arrived as students, but that doesn't seem to be reflected in how the net migration statistics are reported.

Sobachka

But where to live is an issue for all migrants, internal or external.

The truth is that East Anglia was traditionally not an area of growth until recently so all our infrastructure is primitive (whether housing, rail, roads etc).

We are an area of quite a lot of housing being used for purposes other than accommodating workers - 2nd homes, holidaying etc.

There is serious opposition to any housing development even if tied to employment. People want the workers (e.g. in care homes/ domiciliary care there is a massive shortage of workers) but the same people complain about housing development to accommodate them.

So we get the ludicrous situation of redundant agricultural land staying undeveloped (instead of building low cost rented housing) because of local political will and opposition (often by older, wealthier incomers ironically living in ex- tied agricultural housing). Much of the population increases are due to internal migration of older incomers looking to retire.

This means the demographic profile of much of rural East Anglia is getting very much older and a shortage of workers.

There are over 65 MILLION people in Britain. That net migration figure gives us a population increase of less than 0.5%. hmm

Or, put another way, a new Reading/Wokingham Urban Area (Population 318,014 - source ONS 2011) each year - does anyone think that's sustainable?

why are people not internally migrating?

They are -

ONS again -

There were an estimated 2.85 million residents moving between local authorities in England and Wales between July 2014 and June 2015. This is the same level shown in the previous 12-month period.

We need immigrants to Scotland. brexit will be a huge blow for us.

Scotland has a falling population while England's is rising. sturgeon wants more EU citizen migration. Could the solution be to encourage more internal migration from England?

The bogqueen not such a huge blow if the English migrate to Scotland. Seems a simple answer

According to the ONS 2015 -

There were 53,200 moves from England and Wales to Northern Ireland and Scotland, compared with 45,600 from Northern Ireland and Scotland to England and Wales. This means there was a net internal migration loss for England and Wales of 7,600 people

The bogqueen Do you think 300,000 a year would be sustainable?

Wasonthelist

But that could be normal house move of a few miles across a LA border. You need to look at regional figures.

Interesting if you look at the net regional internal migration for the East of England for 2015 is is only 14,000 www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/migrationwithintheuk/datasets/internalmigrationlaandregionmovesandbysexandsingleyearofagetotals

So when I talk about internal migration, I am talking about people in areas of high unemployment doing what people are complaining the Romanians and Lithuanians (since 1990 a third of the total population have left Lithuania) have been doing.

If we are to impose immigration controls successfully, we will need to encourage significantly higher levels of internal migration to areas of labour shortages- and to remove the barriers to doing so. Otherwise this country's economy will tank

Why would Scotland want to repeat Englands mistake, yes she needs immigration to support pensions and services, but these jobs pay little tax, possibly are a net loss, and will at best keep one Scottish generation on the support they receive today. What happens when the immigrants retire?
It could be seen that it takes 3 workers taxation to support 1 none worker. Do they keep ramping up the numbers coming in to support this?
Is Britain not in the mess it is today re this pyramid scheme?

where to live is an issue for all migrants, internal or external

Yes, where to live is an issue for everyone.

There is serious opposition to any housing development

You're right, currently the political will to solve the housing crisis is non-existent. However, the gap between supply and demand is so vast that even with political support, developers would need many years to catch up.

There is serious opposition to any housing development

In our small east midlands town more than 4000 new houses have been approved with no planned improvements to roads, public transport or facilities. I think people should have homes, but not in a densely populated gridlocked hell-hole with no facilities.

On internal migration, am I right that there is a particular difficulty for under 25s - they don't get hb, so can't top up wages to pay rent? May be wrong, but think I have read this - does anyone else know? So the 'on your bike' solution may not be possible for them.

I think people should have homes, but not in a densely populated gridlocked hell-hole with no facilities.

I agree, and planning policy ought not to allow it.

In our small east midlands town more than 4000 new houses have been approved with no planned improvements to roads, public transport or facilities. I think people should have homes, but not in a densely populated gridlocked hell-hole with no facilities.

You are right- but that is a political choice about investing in infrastructure.

The demographic profile problems exist independent of immigration in many places e.g. in Waveney, Suffolk a quarter of the current population (hardly any migrants) is currently of retirement age.

It is estimated that by 2021 persons aged 45 years and over will form over half the population of Suffolk www.healthysuffolk.org.uk/assets/JSNA/PH-reports/Population-Profile-of-Suffolk-County-April-2014.pdf

We are living longer so we don't get a balancing effect on the numbers due to deaths.

It might be a ponzi scheme but the same is true in every economy in the world You need younger working age people to service their needs, let alone export etc. They have to come from somewhere.

It might be a ponzi scheme but the same is true in every economy in the world You need younger working age people to service their needs, let alone export etc. They have to come from somewhere.

So it's all a ponzi scheme - and that's the only option?

Yes the immigrants themselves will retire so it needs rethinking.

It is not right that social housing is being allocated to them at the expense of the indigenous population on the housing list being pushed down unless they have refugee status