There are many downsides to increasing our population by up to a million extra people a year, as most people can see only too well for themselves.
However, we’ve always been told it’s good for the economy. The actual statistics suggest it actually makes very little impact, as has already been posted on this thread.
The latest trends are starting to suggest that along with all the other negatives that come with mass immigration, it’s also actually making us poorer as well.
GDP per capita is trending downwards, and the OBS has released the staggering financial lifetime cost of low paid immigrants to the country. They certainly won’t be paying to support pensioners!
And things are only going to get worse, because the effects of legal immigration are delayed.
For the last 4 years we’ve had the so called ‘Boriswave’ (that man really does have a lot to answer for). Well over a million people came in legally every year, mostly to work in low paid jobs.
At the moment, these immigrants aren’t costing the country a lot. Most of them would have had to pay visa fees, an NHS surcharge, and will not be able to claim benefits for five years, although they can still use public services such as the NHS and education.
Starting this year, they will become eligible to claim indefinite leave to remain, and then after a year, British Citizenship. At this point they will be able to access the full range of benefits available to British citizens.
So millions of low paid immigrants will become citizens in the next 5 years or so, each one costing the taxpayer almost half a million on average over their lifetime.
They won’t be paying anyone’s pensions!
This is why successive governments just haven’t given a toss how many people they let in. Lots more people increases GDP through sheer numbers, but the costs aren’t felt for years down the line, at which point somebody else will be dealing with it.