Border controls at Calais. Keith Laverack/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by-nc-nd)
Migration is one of the most emotive topics in the debate on Britain’s membership of the European Union. For those who favour leaving, the UK’s membership has become synonymous with uncontrolled migration. They believe that only by leaving the EU would the UK be able to restore control over its borders and reduce migration. As a result immigration is assumed to be one of the stronger cards held by the Leave camp. I think their analysis is simplistic and wrong, and that the weight of the argument for those worried about levels of immigration is in favour of remaining in the EU and using it to increase our ability to cope with immigration.
The Leavers’ argument boils down to saying that within the single market we have to sign up to the free movement of people, and therefore unless we leave we are forced to let in unlimited numbers of residents of other EU countries. But would we really have this control outside of the EU?
