The House of Lords' economic affairs committee produced a report on immigration some weeks ago supposedly "demonstrating" that immigrants have not contributed significantly to the average income of the British population and also that immigrants damage employment prospects for native Britons. The anti-immigration lobby grabbed it with both hands as the definitive proof that immigration does not bring financial benefits to the majority of British people and therefore has to be radically restricted.
Now the Home Office statisticians and the Department of Work and Pensions, who can hardly be accused of being biased in this matter, have shown in recent reports that immigration boosted the British economy by £1,650 per head over the last 10 years and that the biggest factor behind welfare dependency in this country is a lack of "basic employability skills and motivation", instead of competition from foreign workers. What this means is that any blame for problems or faults have to be found within the British system and not in greatly exploited and skilled immigrant workers.
Although both studies provide hard evidence of how immigration benefits our society, neither the reactionaries nor xenophobes inside the House of Lords ‑ or outside ‑ will bend to reality. Why let the facts ruin a good story!
