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Immigration is set to lift the UK's population to 70 million by mid-2020
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according to the Office for National Statistics. Too high? I'll answer your first question
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With an asterisk, I think it's a good thing. You know, when you look at the demographics, as Barry alluded to
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unless we've got a raft of youngsters, 20-30-somethings coming into the country
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and working, contributing to the public finances, but also the economy, we ain't going to grow
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We can't pay for public services as our population ages. So if you take that as the baseline that more people need to be in work of a certain age
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we either need to start on a very different kind of skills programme across the country
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with 16-year-olds and start having them getting out like rabbits, or we go and find people from overseas and invite them in to contribute to the United Kingdom
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Well, it's not an option, I suppose, yes. You build houses, you invest in the public services where there are high levels of immigration
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because immigration is a benefit to the UK economy that has localised negative impacts
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It shouldn't be beyond the wit of a government of either red or blue to be able to manage that for the long-term future
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And it is tiresome, if I'm honest, to hear Westminster constantly following public opinion on this rather than attempting to lead
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The projection shows that over the 15 years from mid to mid the UK population will grow by 6 million nearly 10 taking the UK population to 73 million The vast majority of this increase is reflected by international migration and the ONS predicts that immigration will add 6 million to the UK overall population
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The remaining 541,000 will result from there being more births than deaths during that 15-year period
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James Roberts at the ONS said that their projections, which use assumptions based on current
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and past trends, are not predictions. If migrations come down, then so we sophisticated
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their assumptions for use in future projections. It's important to mention that immigration does help offset the UK's demographic challenges
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and by 2035, the projections suggest that there will be more deaths than births, that would
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mean the UK's population would be declining without immigration. The population will also be older
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The ONS estimated that over the next 15 years, the size of the UK's population, aged 85 years
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and over, will grow by 1 million. The Conservatives have made reducing immigration a key pledge ahead of this year's elections
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In a recent announcement, the Home Office confirmed new restrictions on overseas workers
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including significantly hiking the wage threshold for foreign workers. Starting from April 4, those arriving on a skilled worker visa will need 38,700, up from 26,200
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Home Secretary James Cleverly said, migration is too high and we must get back to sustainable levels
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We here at City and would like to know, what are your thoughts on the Conservatives' push on reducing immigration
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Let us know in the comments below
