“The UK’s “supply chain crisis” demands an opposition with the guts to say the B-word” says Annette Dittert
In this article in the New Statesman publsihed on 2.10.21 Annette Dittert castigates the hard Brexit approach of the UK government and demands that Labour start to provide opposition
And a reminder of the economics of immigration given that the politics of immigration was a significant driver of the Brexit referendum result . Here Jonathan Portes sets out the facts about immigration and its contribution to the UK economy in an article published in 2019 .
Portes J. The Economics of Migration. Contexts. 2019;18(2):12-17. doi:10.1177/1536504219854712
Some key quotes:
“.. the point is that immigrants (directly or indirectly) add to labor demand as well as labor supply; they earn money and spend it”
“….despite recent years seeing the highest levels of immigration in recorded British history, the employment rate is at its highest level since records began. Higher immigration has been accompanied by an expansion of jobs for native workers.”
“Where does this leave economists and other social scientists who share the view that the evidence strongly supports immigration as, overall, a clear benefit to destination countries; that any negative consequences for specific groups of workers are relatively small; that the political backlash against immigration in many countries is not economically rational; and that, most of all, liberalization of immigration policy would lead to very large welfare gains to those, particularly from poorer countries, who might benefit from the opportunities it offered?”
