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#BattleFest2014: Immigration: who should control our borders?
Immigration is a fraught political issue.
Those opposing immigration – and especially the EU policy of granting
freedom of movement to all EU citizens – argue that low-skilled workers
from the relatively impoverished East are now driving down wages in the
West. Then there is the spectre of the overseas benefits claimant,
taking out without ever giving anything in return. The pro-immigration
side counters that immigration is actually good for the economy.
Migrants in the UK pay more in tax than they consume in public services,
not least because inward migrants are more likely to be working age
than the population in general. So does immigration help or hinder the
UK economy?
Or does that question miss the point? While the much prophesised rush
of immigrants taking advantage of the exhaustion of the seven-year ban
on immigration from Romania and Bulgaria at the start of the year may
not have come to pass, there are still plenty who claim that immigration
is a big problem. To respond to public disquiet, the government has
concentrated its efforts on non-EU immigrants. But for all its talk of
caps and limits, the government seems incapable of enforcing anything of
the sort. And for some, that is exactly the problem. EU rules
effectively mean the UK government does not control its own borders,
rendering the debate about whether immigration is a bane or a boon
somewhat moot.
Moreover, it sometimes seems that what drives the nominally
pro-immigration side is not so much freedom of movement, but the
unsavoury associations of anti-immigration arguments. It is claimed that
anti-immigration parties like UKIP will prompt ‘kneejerk xenophobia’,
or exacerbate people’s ‘ill-informed prejudices’. Is this a
pro-immigration position or anti-masses sentiment? Where are those
willing to defend immigration on the grounds that everyone should be
entitled to freedom of movement regardless of their passport or their
skill-set? Is there a case for giving up on controlling borders
altogether? Conversely, are arguments against immigration too defensive?
Are secure borders essential to maintaining national sovereignty? Is it
time for a different kind of debate?
Speakers
David Goodhart
chair, Demos' Advisory Group; author, The British Dream
Philippe Legrain
visiting senior fellow, LSE’s European Institute; author, Immigrants: your country needs them and European Spring: Why Our Economies and Politics are in a Mess – and How to Put Them Right; former economic adviser to the President of the European Commission
Bruno Waterfield
Brussels correspondent, Daily Telegraph; co-author, No Means No
Steven Woolfe
UKIP Frontbench Spokesman on Migration and Financial Affairs
Co-ordinator EFDD Group, EU ECON Committee
Chair
Claire Fox
director, Institute of Ideas; panellist, BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze
View all episodes
By academyofideas
3.9
77 ratings
Immigration is a fraught political issue.
Those opposing immigration – and especially the EU policy of granting
freedom of movement to all EU citizens – argue that low-skilled workers
from the relatively impoverished East are now driving down wages in the
West. Then there is the spectre of the overseas benefits claimant,
taking out without ever giving anything in return. The pro-immigration
side counters that immigration is actually good for the economy.
Migrants in the UK pay more in tax than they consume in public services,
not least because inward migrants are more likely to be working age
than the population in general. So does immigration help or hinder the
UK economy?
Or does that question miss the point? While the much prophesised rush
of immigrants taking advantage of the exhaustion of the seven-year ban
on immigration from Romania and Bulgaria at the start of the year may
not have come to pass, there are still plenty who claim that immigration
is a big problem. To respond to public disquiet, the government has
concentrated its efforts on non-EU immigrants. But for all its talk of
caps and limits, the government seems incapable of enforcing anything of
the sort. And for some, that is exactly the problem. EU rules
effectively mean the UK government does not control its own borders,
rendering the debate about whether immigration is a bane or a boon
somewhat moot.
Moreover, it sometimes seems that what drives the nominally
pro-immigration side is not so much freedom of movement, but the
unsavoury associations of anti-immigration arguments. It is claimed that
anti-immigration parties like UKIP will prompt ‘kneejerk xenophobia’,
or exacerbate people’s ‘ill-informed prejudices’. Is this a
pro-immigration position or anti-masses sentiment? Where are those
willing to defend immigration on the grounds that everyone should be
entitled to freedom of movement regardless of their passport or their
skill-set? Is there a case for giving up on controlling borders
altogether? Conversely, are arguments against immigration too defensive?
Are secure borders essential to maintaining national sovereignty? Is it
time for a different kind of debate?
Speakers
David Goodhart
chair, Demos' Advisory Group; author, The British Dream
Philippe Legrain
visiting senior fellow, LSE’s European Institute; author, Immigrants: your country needs them and European Spring: Why Our Economies and Politics are in a Mess – and How to Put Them Right; former economic adviser to the President of the European Commission
Bruno Waterfield
Brussels correspondent, Daily Telegraph; co-author, No Means No
Steven Woolfe
UKIP Frontbench Spokesman on Migration and Financial Affairs
Co-ordinator EFDD Group, EU ECON Committee
Chair
Claire Fox
director, Institute of Ideas; panellist, BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze
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