With the UK-EU summit just around the corner, contentious issues are beginning to emerge. That issue, along with immigration levels and fishing rights, is coming to dominate the agenda. Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, has made a daring commitment. He vows to bring immigration levels down “significantly” in future years, responding to the growing public demand for a cut in the record high migration figures. UK Migration Recent reports revealed that net migration reached an all-time record of 906,000 in the 12 months ending June 2023. This is an incredible change from the close to none net migration levels seen in the early 1990s.
This current spike in migration numbers is again symptomatic of much larger trends. Total arrivals in the UK jumped drastically from roughly 250,000 annually in the early 1990s. By 2019, that number had increased to about 800,000. When all included arrivals are accounted, 2023 was the worst year yet – with combined arrivals reaching 1.3 million. The most recent numbers show a reversal of that trend, with net migration dropping to 728,000 in the year to June 2024. This unusual fluctuation leads to some important questions about the impacts on public policy and for the overall economy.
The political climate has changed dramatically since the passage of Brexit. The UK’s departure from the EU means that UK and EU citizens no longer have an automatic right to live, work, or study in each other’s countries. This development has created fresh hurdles for EU nationals hoping to settle in the UK permanently. Currently, they need special visas, and most of these visas need a sponsor in order to apply.
Taking her lead from Madeleine Sumption of Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, it is an arresting proposal. She argues that bringing in a UK/EU youth mobility scheme would increase net migration in the short term. In comparison last year the government only allocated a little over 24,000 Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) visas. It was Australians who received the most invitations, just ahead of New Zealanders and Canadians. Sumption noted that if everyone left the UK upon their visa expiry, the long-term impact on migration levels would be minimal.
“If the UK is worried about the impact, it could phase in the scheme, where it gradually increases the quota. So as people leave, the quota could be raised rather than a big bang, all come at once,” – Madeleine Sumption
Indeed, although immigration is rightfully one of the top issues in the UK-EU relations, fishing rights have posed one of the greatest obstacles. Elspeth Macdonald, Chief Executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, highlighted that “the market access to the EU has become more bureaucratic,” complicating the process for small to medium-sized businesses that export fish to EU markets.
Chris Ranford, a National Fisheries Institute representative, echoed these concerns. He made the strong argument that there was a pressing need to redistribute resources more equitably in UK waters. He even argued that having this kind of leverage over UK access would enable the UK government to negotiate a far better deal for its resources.
“By having that lever around access, the UK could secure a much fairer share of the resources in our own waters,” – Chris Ranford
Fishing rights are complicated enough without addressing competition from new-age vessels. Ranford shined a bright light on this urgent crisis. French fishing vessels with greater catching capacity often violate UK waters, limiting the space UK fishermen can operate.
“Very modern, very high-powered French fishing vessels that have much greater catching capacity than the UK or Cornish boats come up to the six-mile line. We don’t have space to fish,” – Chris Ranford
Negotiations around immigration policy and treaty fishing rights are changing on a daily basis. These two issues are inextricably tied to the bigger economic and social malaise both in the UK itself and its fractious relationship with the rest of Europe. The upcoming summit looks to be an important forum for airing and discussing these issues.