Claims that Scotland needs large-scale immigration because of a shrinking and ageing population are wrong, according to the cross parliamentary ‘group on immigration’ which itself came up with the half-baked — and already rejected — idea of ‘balanced immigration’. Although the cross parliamentary group was clearly an attempt to halt the BNP’s growth (one of its members, Frank Field MP, even said so in those words), one of its conclusions makes uncomfortable reading for Labour and Tory plans for continued immigration into Britain.
According to the report, Scotland’s population has been about 5 million for 50 years and will stay at that level for the next 25 years, even without net migration, it said.
Much of the rationale for the establishment parties’ immigration policies is that the ‘population decline’ means that immigration is needed to ‘boost the economy’.
The report however stated that “It is often suggested that Scotland needs large-scale immigration because it has a declining and ageing population. This is simply not the case.”
One projection shows that Scotland’s population will increase slightly until the middle of this century, through net immigration of about 4,000 a year internationally and 4,500 a year in internal migration, mostly from England.
“Furthermore, immigration as a solution to the ‘pensions timebomb’ has been dismissed by all serious studies — most recently by the House of Lords select committee on economic affairs,” the report said.
And while some in Scotland argue that immigrants are needed to do jobs that Scots will not do, and invigorate the Scottish economy, these claims left the House of Lords’ select committee on economic affairs “unconvinced.”
“In recent years Scotland has had far fewer immigrants than England. In terms of international migration, less than one quarter of 1% of net foreign immigration to the UK has been to Scotland.”
“In the 10 years to 2006, the total flow to Scotland was 27,000 compared with 1.57million to England,” the report said. Even allowing for population, the flow of immigrants to England is still six times higher than to Scotland.