After around two decades of being told that mass immigration is good for the economy—essential, in fact, to keep it afloat—Britons have been informed that jobless legal migrants have cost them almost £24 billion (€28 billion) in just four years.
This amount has been paid by taxpayers since 2020 to cover the costs of services and accommodation for “economically inactive” individuals who have moved to Britain and are neither in work nor looking for work, and so are not contributing to the economy.
That is according to the Centre for Migration Control (CfMC) think tank, whose findings are based on data from the Office for National Statistics. It said that 2023 saw a record number (711,500) of “economically inactive adult migrants, regardless of the visa on which they arrived.”
The CfMC added that including international students in these figures, given that they are also technically economically inactive and use public services, raises the total cost since 2020 to £35.84 billion (€41.87 billion).
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage described these numbers as “staggering.” He said:
If immigration is making us that much poorer, then real political change must happen.
The story has yet to be touched by most of Britain’s even more rightwing press, including both The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph, which would usually jump at such data. Asked why this might be the case, CfMC Research Director Rob Bates told GB News:
Unfortunately, there is a consensus that exists in Whitehall [the home of the British government], … Westminster and exists amongst most civil servants, that … mass migration equals GDP growth. This is the mindset that has gripped people since the late 1990s.
Farage responded that these latest figures “could change the whole national debate,” which currently revolves around smaller-scale illegal migration.
