Throw open the gates

By David Osler

Tuesday 25 March 2008

BOTH in terms of free market economic theory and on broader philosophical grounds, there is plenty to be said for unrestricted immigration.

The economic activity of first generation immigrants to the UK is worth something like 10% of GDP. That’s twice the contribution of North Sea oil. More than a quarter of London’s financial services workforce is foreign-born, while about half of newly-registered doctors and nurses come from outside Europe.

Simply put, either liberalisation is the way to maximise economic welfare, or it is not. If it is, governments should be dismantling immigration controls with the same zeal with which they once scrapped capital controls.

What’s more, the residual anarchist in me simply doesn’t think it is the job of governments to tell people where to live.

There are plenty of MPs in all major parties who would privately agree with this analysis; the problem for practical politicians is that most voters would not.

Anti-immigration parties are part of the political landscape in many countries; in the UK, the distastefully far right British National Party may make a breakthrough in the London Assembly elections on May 1.

Seen in this light, New Labour’s decision to scrap current work permit arrangements and introduce an Australian-style points-based system is perhaps a reasonable attempt to square the circle.

There are problems with other forms of annual limits or sector-based quotas. Such schemes could lead to situations where star footballers or top academics are prevented from taking up a job in Britain because the annual limit has already been exceeded.

As a globalised industry, British shipping will be heavily effected. Many foreign-owned concerns will want to bring in non-EU nationals to fill shoreside management posts; many operators use non-EU national crews.

Yet as a briefing to shipowners offered by Border & Immigration Agency officials made clear last week, the implications for the maritime sector patently have not been thought through, even though the changes are set to kick in sometime around October.

In particular, it remains unclear how British-based officials can be expected to police human resources functions based in, say, Latvia or the Far East.

It’s easy to imagine BIA officials charged with sorting this stuff out sighing and cussing shipowners – always the bleedin’ awkward squad – under their breath.

Sorry, civil servants. It is your job to make your schemes suitable for the real world, not the real world’s job to come into bureaucratic line. Either tailor your plans to shipowner needs, or grant them the necessary exemptions.

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