The issue of population growth is not off topic because it has been claimed this development is unnecessary because we could just stem the flow of people coming in. I’ve tried to outline why, if you were to this, then some pretty unpalatable policies would have to be introduced with regard to things like pensions, adult social care and the NHS. The reason large scale immigration has failed to boost the percentage of the working population is because the non-working section of the population is growing at the same rate, mainly due to people retiring. On current projections the ageing population effect is due to continue to the end of the next decade. There are two ways to boost working population – birth rate or immigration. We have chosen immigration particularly under Johnson and Truss who saw it as a way to underpin economic growth and that worked to a degree. Sunak and Starmer have wound back on this policy but it remains the case that there are massive labour shortages and there is little choice but to recruit from overseas particularly for care workers, the NHS and the construction industry. 96% of immigration is legal and much is prompted by active recruitment of people from overseas. We definitely do not let just anybody in, but we do have an urgent need and lots of vacancies to fill. Up until recently immigrants were less likely to claim job seekers’ allowance than the general population particularly workers from the EU. This has changed due to recruitment from poorer countries after Brexit but even people from those with the highest rates of claims such as Pakistan and Bangladesh are only at around 10% so in other words 90% will be productively employed. Whether you like it or not, our economy and the stability of our finances are entirely dependent on workers from overseas continuing to come to this country. This means we need to build more homes.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Mount Close development	05/08/25 15:09:00	Elizabeth Howard
Re:Mount Close development	05/08/25 16:12:00	Peter Yale
Re:Re:Mount Close development	05/08/25 19:54:00	Rosco White
Reply	06/08/25 08:48:00	Gordon Southwell
Re:Reply	06/08/25 10:32:00	Rosco White
Re:Reply	06/08/25 10:32:00	Bill Trenchard
Re:Re:Reply	06/08/25 13:58:00	Elizabeth Howard
Re:Re:Reply	06/08/25 14:02:00	Paul James
Reply	06/08/25 15:04:00	Gordon Southwell
Re:Reply	06/08/25 16:02:00	Peter Yale
Re:Re:Reply	06/08/25 16:23:00	Mark Evans
Re:Re:Re:Reply	06/08/25 16:52:00	Simon Hayes
Re:Re:Re:Re:Reply	06/08/25 17:15:00	Elizabeth Howard
Reply	07/08/25 08:18:00	Gordon Southwell

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