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By Philippe Legrain in the Guardian. Full post here.
One of immigration critics’ favourite arguments is that Britain is full up. Even if immigrants might have something to contribute to this country, they argue, we simply can’t house a larger population. The argument is superficially attractive to anyone who is often stuck in traffic or on a crowded train. Yet it is flawed in all sorts of ways.
For a start, there are more Britons living abroad than foreigners living in Britain, so the UK population is now lower, not higher, because of net migration. The strains on public infrastructure have more to do with decades of under-investment than excess population. The Netherlands is more densely populated than the UK, yet its trains are not overcrowded; Paris is more densely populated than London yet its Metro is less cramped than our Tube.
