^Controlling EU migration alone is going to save billions.
I've no desire to enter into an argument over this - I can't convince you and you can't convince me.^
Is controlling EU migration really going to save billions though?
Many recent EU migrants are young and skilled. We don’t pay much for their education, they normally arrive after being educated. Since most of them are working age, we don’t pay much for their pensions or health care either. Many eventually return home.
We may actually need EU migrants to contribute to our taxes to financially support our increasingly ageing population & the services they need.
As Boris Johnson said in 2013 “We need to help our young – not beat up on Johnny Foreigner.”
www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/10392577/Its-mad-to-blame-our-housing-crisis-on-blooming-foreigners.html
According to independent analysis examining the claims leaving the EU wont necessarily reduce immigration by very much;
- "Leaving the EU would not automatically lead to a large reduction in immigration, for two reasons.
If we wanted to continue to participate in the EU single market after leaving the EU then one obvious way to do so would be for us to join Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein as members of the European Economic Area.
But free movement applies to EEA members, as it does to Switzerland, a non-EEA member with more limited single market access....
"So “controlling immigration” might require leaving the single market as well as the EU.
- "The end of free movement doesn’t necessarily mean a big drop in immigration
If free movement were to end, with or without single market access, this still wouldn’t automatically mean a large reduction in immigration.
Migration Watch estimates that applying broadly the same rules to EU migrants as non-EU ones at the moment might reduce net immigration by up to 100,000, from its current level of about 300,000.
However, it’s also been argued that leaving the EU could see higher levels of non-EU migration, which would partly offset any reduction.
It depends on what the government chooses to do with immigration policy if we were to leave the EU."
- "Immigrants and public services
There are about 3 million EU citizens currently living in the UK. The evidence suggests that impacts on jobs and wages have been small, and are most likely to affect lower-skilled workers.
Recently arrived EU immigrants pay more in tax than they consume in welfare or public services, so they benefit the public finances.
The impact on public services is difficult to measure with certainty. Immigrants may add to demand for and pressure on public services, but also contribute to financing and providing those services, particularly in the NHS.
Impacts are likely to vary by local area. However, research shows that higher levels of immigration are not associated, at a local level, with longer NHS waiting times.
And in schools, increased numbers of pupils with English as a second language doesn't have any negative impact on levels of achievement for native English speaking students. If anything, pupils in schools with lots of non-native speakers do slightly better."
fullfact.org/europe/immigration-eu-referendum/
I don''t have a fixed view. If new information comes to light I weigh up the pros & cons & re-evaluate decisions.