EVEN if the Government met its target to cut migration into the UK the population would not stabilise at 70 million, an Oxford University report has found.
MPs have debated the issue of immigration after an online petition started by think tank Migration Watch, which called for the population to stay “well below” 70 million, was signed by more than 100,000 people.
But a study by Oxford University’s Migration Observatory found that achieving that aim would “require reductions to net migration that far exceed those required to reach the Government’s target”.
According to the Office of National Statistics, the UK’s population is projected to increase from the current 62 million to 73.2 million by 2035, with migration accounting for two thirds of the rise.
Migration Watch believes net migration, currently at about 216,000, should be reduced to as low as 40,000. But the report said this would involve “important trade-offs” and risks reducing complex issues to an “arbitrary round number”.
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