The writer is author of ‘People Power: Why We Need More Migrants’
A striking feature of the raucous debate over migrants and refugees in the English Channel or at Poland’s border with Belarus is the unchallenged premise that migration is to be resisted, or at best kept to a trickle.
The upshot is policies that are harmful to the future of Britain and Europe. The next 25 years will see 33m people retiring with no replacements, thus shrinking the combined UK and EU workforces from 240m to 207m. It would be naive to think migrants can step straight into their shoes, but clearly a massive rethink is needed about the value to Europe of more newcomers.