Indeed, as well as ceasing to build housing to support the people a growing economy sucks in, the source countries of migrants has changed.Ireland used to be a big provider of immigrants, including my parents. The Irish no longer leave Ireland in large numbers. The high immigration from Poland has turned to a net emigration back to Poland.If we want fewer people migrating to the UK and with a below replacement birth rate, we may not, Ireland and Poland show us how.Economics isn't a zero sum game although sadly, mostly that's how countries play it now. The EU project was a rare exception. It redistributed money from wealthy established economies to poorer, developing ones like Ireland and Poland to develop infrastructure and attract investment. If Germany helps Ireland become prosperous, Irish people will buy BMWs. It worked and also, as those countries developed, opportunities opened up for women. That together with access to contraception reduced the birth rate. Fewer people more economic opportunity, less emigration.How do you create a pull to the UK? Leverage economic dominance in exploitative terms of trade and destroy countries through war. What would you do for your children to give them a better chance in life, if your home country offered only poverty and war. I say that not to tug the heart strings, but just to state the reality.
Kathleen Healy ● 8d