The muddle of immigration

Last week the coalition government announced yet another ill thought-out policy. Students are already frustrated with this government after the Liberal Democrats’ volte-face on tuition fees, while George Osborne’s £89 billion public sector cuts threaten the future of the British economy.

But last week the coalition government reached a new low when the Migration Advisory Committee revealed that international students will be targeted in an effort to reduce the number of people entering Britain. This policy will harm students, businesses and the British economy in one swoop.

Britain has a long history of accepting immigrants: indeed, earlier this month Britain’s ability to absorb mixed-race citizens was held up as a “model to the world” by the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The coalition government has committed to honouring a populist Conservative election pledge to reduce net migration from 196,000 last year to “tens of thousands” by 2015. Unfortunately, the government has not jettisoned this pledge with the same deft sleight of hand its Lib Dem partners showed on tuition fees.

Net immigration is the total number of people entering the country minus the total number leaving. Hence, to reduce net immigration the government either needs more people leaving the UK, or fewer coming in. The government has no control over the number of people leaving the country and cannot prevent migration from other EU countries, of which almost half are actually returning British citizens. Non-EU immigrants are the only variable which the government can control.

The government’s approach to tackling the “problem” of immigration, however, risks exacerbating the very concerns it intends to address.

The Financial Times estimates that without the future economic contribution of migrants, families will be forced to pay a further £300 per year in higher taxes. The government is needlessly adopting policies which undermine economic growth, risk jobs and threaten public services.

There are three legal entry routes to the UK for non-EU citizens: work, study and family reunion. The previous government's points-based immigration system allowed only skilled workers from outside the EU to migrate to the UK. British businesses benefit from this stream of skilled labour, and this government is foolish to cut it off. With a relatively low-skilled domestic workforce, an ageing population and a sluggish economy, Britain will suffer without these workers.

Family reunification accounts for less than a fifth of non-EU migration, and any attempts to prevent people who are working and paying taxes from being re-united with their families will be vigorously opposed by immigrant groups. Moreover, further restrictions on genuine family reunification could breach the Human Rights Act's guarantee of the right to family life.

This leaves students, who account for more than 50 per cent of non-European immigrants, as the easiest target. International students contribute enormously to British universities, both culturally and financially. An international student studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh will spend £138,800 on tuition fees alone. By making it harder for international students to study in the UK, the coalition government is doing even more damage to our universities.

The coalition government is wrong to target international students in order to assuage concerns over immigration. The government’s commitment to reducing immigration is one election pledge which students would be happy to see discarded on the grounds of economic circumstances.