U.K. HOUSING POLICY (3) 

Net migration into the U.K. in 2010 was 252,000. The Government thinks that figure is way too high, both in itself and (just as importantly) in relation to the number of new houses being built, and so has vowed to reduce it to the tens of thousands (i.e. under 100,000) by 2015. That may be a politically sensible aim, but it also looks rather pie in the sky. New figures show that net migration in 2011 was 216,000, which means that there is still a long way to go.

The target may also be economically short-sighted. The drop was more than caused by a reduction of 75,000 (21%), to 282,833, in the number of student visas issued. Despite increased tuition fees (a maximum of £9,000 a year from this academic year), British educational institutions rely to a large extent on income from foreign students in order to make ends meet; fewer students will, therefore, automatically result in tighter budgets. The economy will also be hurt later on by reduced income from students who would otherwise have chosen to stay on and work in the U.K.

Governments often want income without the people who generate it. Unfortunately, they tend to go together.

Walter Blotscher