Report says "Brexit" would cut net migration to UK by 100,000

PanARMENIAN.Net - Net migration to the UK could fall by about 100,000 a year if Britain votes to leave the European Union, pressure group Migration Watch has estimated, according to BBC News.

The group, which advocates tighter immigration controls, says in the event of a "Brexit", the government should introduce work permits for EU citizens.

Such a move would cut net migration - the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving - from 180,000 to 65,000 a year, it says.

Pro-EU campaigners dismissed the claim.

The UK is set to have a referendum by the end of 2017 on whether or not it should remain a member of the European Union.

The Migration Watch report looks at possible migration policies that could be introduced should the UK vote to leave the EU, and what the impact on overall migration figures.

The report suggested the key change could be the introduction of work permits which would limit EU nationals entering the country to higher-skilled workers, their family members and students, while low-skilled workers would not be granted entry.

Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of Migration Watch, said: "It is time to examine possible alternative immigration regimes."

Under the current arrangements, signs indicated migration to Britain would "continue at a substantial rate for the foreseeable future", he said.

"Indeed, immigrants tend to generate further migration as their friends and relatives join them in their new countries," he said. "Work permits for EU citizens would substantially reduce net migration and its resultant pressure on our population and public services."

The 16-page paper suggests that on average only around 20% of EU migrants who came to Britain between 2004 and 2014 were doing higher-skilled work.

It said a work permit system - similar to that used for non-EU migrants to the UK - could reduce by a fifth the number of EU nationals coming to Britain to work and "in turn, substantially reduce net migration by perhaps 100,000 a year from the current level of 180,000".