Immigration in the UK
Immigration remains a widely debated issue in the UK, which is not surprising since the average gross annual inflow of immigrants into the
UK has grown rapidly since the middle of the 1990s. According to the
Office for National Statistics’ (ONS’s) International Passenger Survey
(IPS) (2012), the number of people immigrating to the UK has risen from around 50,000 per annum at the beginning of the 1990s to 524,000 per annum, on average, between 2004 and 2011(Mitchell, J. et al., 2011). A flexible policy of immigration may possibly means increasing ethnic and religious diversity. Should there be quotas on immigration in the UK?
Opponents may claim that Britain needs millions more immigrants to reduce strain of ageing population and to stimulate the depressing economy. However, more immigrants mean more resources consumption, more competitive job market and crime issues.
The first reason why there ought to be quotas on immigration is that immigrants can consume more resources like public services and the
1
welfare system. The National Health Service (NHS) is a significant service and one of the greatest assets in the UK. The British government is committed to maintaining the NHS as a generally free service at the point of delivery and it also committed the principle that everyone should be able to access health services. However, the British government believes immigrants should come to the UK for the right reason – to contribute to the society rather than simply taking from it. And the forthcoming immigration Bill will introduce measures to make this happen (Home Office. 2013). The current rules on accessing the NHS by immigrants seems too generous especially compared with other countries and these rules are not being severely applied. In other words, the healthcare cost of two large numbers of people who should not be in the UK and ‘health tourists’ who premeditated seek to exploit an advantage of the current weakness
UK has grown rapidly since the middle of the 1990s. According to the
Office for National Statistics’ (ONS’s) International Passenger Survey
(IPS) (2012), the number of people immigrating to the UK has risen from around 50,000 per annum at the beginning of the 1990s to 524,000 per annum, on average, between 2004 and 2011(Mitchell, J. et al., 2011). A flexible policy of immigration may possibly means increasing ethnic and religious diversity. Should there be quotas on immigration in the UK?
Opponents may claim that Britain needs millions more immigrants to reduce strain of ageing population and to stimulate the depressing economy. However, more immigrants mean more resources consumption, more competitive job market and crime issues.
The first reason why there ought to be quotas on immigration is that immigrants can consume more resources like public services and the
1
welfare system. The National Health Service (NHS) is a significant service and one of the greatest assets in the UK. The British government is committed to maintaining the NHS as a generally free service at the point of delivery and it also committed the principle that everyone should be able to access health services. However, the British government believes immigrants should come to the UK for the right reason – to contribute to the society rather than simply taking from it. And the forthcoming immigration Bill will introduce measures to make this happen (Home Office. 2013). The current rules on accessing the NHS by immigrants seems too generous especially compared with other countries and these rules are not being severely applied. In other words, the healthcare cost of two large numbers of people who should not be in the UK and ‘health tourists’ who premeditated seek to exploit an advantage of the current weakness