Victor Keegan on immigation and the economy

By Alex Singleton | 14 March 2005

The Guardian's Victor Keegan writes:

The national debate about immigration in the UK is being conducted almost entirely in a political context. If an economic dimension is added, attitudes change quite dramatically and a lot of hypocrisy is exposed.

The fact is that economic growth - and the control of inflation - in the UK is becoming increasingly dependent on migrant labour. Although that dependency is most marked in the south, particularly in London, it affects the whole of the economy. Normally when there are shortages of labour, wages start rising as employers outbid each other for the dwindling supply of available staff...

The interesting new factor is how migrant workers are taking jobs in sectors in which shortages would otherwise have led to higher wages (and eventually higher prices). This is most obvious in London, where skilled and unskilled jobs, including in plumbing, construction and restaurants, are filled by overseas workers, often from eastern Europe...

Most immigrants fill posts that keep the economy going. It is funny how peoples' attitudes to immigration change when they suddenly find a Polish or Lithuanian plumber to do a job they cannot find a British tradesman to do at a reasonable price.