Stephen Nickell, a board member at the Office for Budget
Responsibility (OBR), the Government’s tax and spending watchdog, told MPs that
immigration is “not very important” economically. He admitted the public is
worried about the number of migrants, but said only 10 per cent of the country
was urbanised. Britain is not “full up” and has “masses of space” for new
buildings. He pointed out that Surrey has more land devoted to golf courses
than housing. “There’s plenty of room, these issues are really not very
important,” he added. “People think about these things on the basis of their
experience and what they read in the newspapers. Most of the things that people
object to arise because there are just more people.”
He continued: "The general consensus is that for the
native population, the existing population, immigration may be a little bit
good, it may be a little bit bad economically. But there isn't overall that
much in it.”
He conceded that migrants may have held back the pay of
unskilled migrants but insisted: “Some 35 per cent of health professional are
migrants. It’s quite plain that, if they weren’t there, the health service
would be in absolutely dire straits.”
Latest estimates suggest that more than a quarter of all UK consultants
are not British
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