Good news for Britain!

[vetran]

US has control over all its immigration and that hasn't stopped an estimated 11million illegals getting in.

It does have huge land borders with poorer countries and a relaxed attitude to Cubans.

We however have southern Ireland and a bloody great moat!

However the immigration figures refer to legal migration so your point is like a broken pencil!

[DodgyAgent]

Having your own border controls and how effective those border controls are . - Are both entirely seperate issues. according to the logic of this stupid idiot a law that cannot be enforced 100% should be abandoned

[dx4100]

"net migration for EU citizens was 184,000"

So 149,000 from outside EU.

Why can't we send 184,000 non-EU home every year and balance the books?

Ask the people you want to give MORE power too... and the real reason for most the issues you talk about...

[BlasterBates]

Britain is pretty average when it comes to immigration.

Compare your country by OECD

I lived in Switzerland for 8 years and most of the people where I lived were not Swiss, the statistics bear that out and they're not in the EU.

All OECD countries have declining working populations, which is why you're seeing so much immigration everywhere. Britain would lose 250,000 from it's workforce every year with no immigration, that's a city the size of Birmigham appearing every 4 years with no productive people, sitting around tulipting and peeing in their underwear and generally going gaga.. If you want to cut immigration you either take a significant cut in your standard of living or you raise the retirement age significantly.

[DodgyAgent]

Britain is pretty average when it comes to immigration.

Compare your country by OECD

I lived in Switzerland for 8 years and most of the people where I lived were not Swiss, the statistics bear that out and they're not in the EU.

All OECD countries have declining working populations, which is why you're seeing so much immigration everywhere. Britain would lose 250,000 from it's workforce every year with no immigration, that's a city the size of Birmigham appearing every 4 years with no productive people, sitting around tulipting and peeing in their underwear and generally going gaga.. If you want to cut immigration you either take a significant cut in your standard of living or you raise the retirement age significantly.

The debate is not about immigration per se it is about picking and choosing who we want to bring to the UK. We cannot just keep increasing the population of the country by acting as the job repository for failing economies elsewhere. it is not unreasonable either to expect people to work longer and we should be forced into looking after and developing our own population (there are still 1.5 million unemployed in the UK) rather than sticking them on welfare and bringing in migrants from abroad.

[DimPrawn]

The debate is not about immigration per se it is about picking and choosing who we want to bring to the UK. We cannot just keep increasing the population of the country by acting as the job repository for failing economies elsewhere. it is not unreasonable either to expect people to work longer and we should be forced into looking after and developing our own population (there are still 1.5 million unemployed in the UK) rather than sticking them on welfare and bringing in migrants from abroad.

^ This.

I'd like to see immigration increase, but only for very highly educated and skilled individuals with a firm job offer or existing and profitable business.

We just want the ability to select who can live and work here and who can't. Simples.

[BrilloPad]

Ask the people you want to give MORE power too... and the real reason for most the issues you talk about...

Ouch! I am against centralising power.

As an example, MrsBP and I were talking today about baby weening. There are NHS guidelines on this. But every baby is different.

There are some decisions that Europe can really help on. Like mobile phone chargers. Trade agreements. Several others. We don't need to transfer sovereignty to get those.

[BrilloPad]

^ This.

I'd like to see immigration increase, but only for very highly educated and skilled individuals with a firm job offer or existing and profitable business.

We just want the ability to select who can live and work here and who can't. Simples.

And I totally disagree with this. The UK can fill those jobs with better training. A while ago I spoke to a bus driver who had done a year training course in coding, but could not get a job. I bet there are plenty of overseas coders doing the job he could have done.

Similarly for nuclear power stations. Why involve foreigners?

The UK is a small island and is full.

[jamesbrown]

The debate is not about immigration per se it is about picking and choosing who we want to bring to the UK. We cannot just keep increasing the population of the country by acting as the job repository for failing economies elsewhere. it is not unreasonable either to expect people to work longer and we should be forced into looking after and developing our own population (there are still 1.5 million unemployed in the UK) rather than sticking them on welfare and bringing in migrants from abroad.

Exactly, and the tendency among some Bremainers to accuse those with differing views as somehow bigoted, xenophobic, or even racist must be rejected as completely toxic to democracy (undeniably, this view has resulted in more extreme parties gaining traction throughout Europe). I agree with that well-known xenophobic wingnut and ex Green Party voter, Steve Hilton, we need to focus on quality, not quantity. Most of all, we need to debate it outside of the playground.

[VectraMan]

Net migration to UK rises to 333,000 - second highest on record - BBC News

I'd like to see immigration increase, but only for very highly educated and skilled individuals with a firm job offer or existing and profitable business.

So why post a hysterical headline that's purely about numbers? If it's about the type of immigrants then it's not simply a question of numbers and pressure on schools, housing, etc, as the Kippers always say that it is. If your point is that it's a large number of unskilled people that are coming here then why not argue that with evidence to back it up? And then we can argue about whether the British economy needs an army of Indian computer programmers over fruit pickers.