Immigration: "There's nothing we can do"

Monday 29 September 2014

Politicians who claim they can put a cap on Jersey’s total population are either kidding themselves or trying to kid the voters, according to a population expert.

Mark Boleat told an Institute of Directors audience on Thursday night that Jersey’s position in the British Common Travel Area meant that we could not restrict people coming in from the UK or Ireland – and he said that there was also no legal control on residentially-qualified people coming back to the Island, and bringing families with them.

Mr Boleat – a Jerseyman who is a senior politician in the City of London and who also chairs the competition regulator and the States of Jersey Development Company – told the pre-election IoD event that it was time to face facts about immigration.

He said: “Jersey has no ability to determine, with any degree of precision, the size of its population or the amount of net migration, a point recognised in all the official policy statements.

“The current policy, and any other policy that might be implemented, is incapable of restricting net immigration or the total size of the population to a specific number, and anyone who pretends that this can be done is either deceiving himself or herself or seeking to deceive the electorate.”

And Mr Boleat added that various suggestions by politicians over the years about work permits, a points-based system or a target cap on population missed the point, because without controls on access, there was effective action that could be taken.

He argued instead that Jersey should see the fact that people wanted to live here as a positive statement about the Island and its economy.

He said: “Other things being equal a higher population will mean better air and sea links, more choice and lower prices for those buying goods and services, more job opportunities for local people, and better healthcare, but it will also mean a higher density of population and, depending on how well the Island functions, more congestion.

“The hard reality is that if Jersey wants to continue to have a high and rising standard of living and slower population growth then it must produce a better educated and skilled workforce and increase the labour market participation rate of local people.”