Research indicates that a substantial increase in schools, roads, and GP surgeries is necessary to accommodate the influx of immigrants.
Migrant Watch compiled the data estimates in a new research paper which calls for a cap of 100,000 migrants per year.
The UK will need thousands more schools, roads, and GP surgeries to cope with current levels of mass immigration, research by a British think tank has found.
Migration Watch said public services will “simply be unable to cope” if net migration carries on at current record-high levels. It predicts that if the current trend—which stands at 606,000 per year—continues, Britain’s population will skyrocket to between 83 and 87 million by 2046. That would equate to creating fifteen cities the size of Birmingham, the think tank said. The 15 million increase would require new schools, hospitals, roads, bus lanes, colleges, and police stations, according to Migrant Watch analysis. The population boom would also place an “intolerable strain” on public services—especially health, with 2,640 new doctor surgeries and 75 more hospitals to cope with demand.
“Should the level of net migration be allowed to continue, we will have to build around 6,675 new schools, 2,640 new surgeries, 135 hospitals, 75 universities, 75 police stations and 165 further education colleges by 2046,” the research paper said.
Migrant Watch said it calculated the estimates by taking current data from Birmingham City Council and multiplying it by 15.
However, it said the projections do not account for variations in geography and future settlement patterns, which cannot be forecast accurately in advance. Nevertheless, it said the figures “provide a snapshot of the infrastructural challenges” that the government would face should current levels of net migration continue. Of the 6,675 additional schools needed to cope with the demand, 3,885 of these would be primary schools, 1,230 secondary, and 405 nurseries.
The report concluded that an annual limit on net migration—of about 100,000 a year—should be implemented by the government. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK said: “Unless we cut immigration substantially, the infrastructure that supports our public services, already stretched to its limits, will simply be unable to cope. We need a wider and franker debate and not just about the number of immigrants.”
Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference, Mr. Jenrick said a “substantial and sustained” reduction in numbers is needed, with too many low—and mid-skilled foreign workers taking jobs that should be done by Britons. He confirmed he is working with Home Secretary Suella Braverman on potential measures to reduce net migration, which hit a record 606,000 last year.
The Home Office’s call to slash net migration is at odds with the Treasury, which has pushed the economic benefits of migration. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously sided with the Treasury, resisting Home Office demands for wider curbs. Restrictions were limited earlier this year to a ban on postgraduates other than those doing research and bringing their families to the UK. But figures are likely to fall sharply from the current record high over the coming years, according to the report. The war in Ukraine and people arriving in the UK from Hong Kong under resettlement schemes are said to have contributed to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimate, which put net migration at 606,000 people last year.
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