Articles

UK must look at that other group of migrants

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by Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Associate Director, Migration, Equalities & Citizenship
Financial Times - 07 August 2006

Our borders are being overwhelmed by migration on an unprecedented scale. Many of these migrants are failing to integrate with their host communities. Some do not even bother learning the local language. Local services are struggling to cope with the influx. Worse still, the UK government seems to know little about the scale or impact of this migration.

While these may be well-rehearsed descriptions of immigration into the UK, they may better describe what happens when Britons move abroad. Emigration from the UK is rocketing but few people seem to be considering the demographic or economic implications.

Britons have a long tradition of moving around the world. Between 1966 and 1996 the UK actually lost more people through emigration than it gained through immigration. More recently, lured by a better quality of life, encouraged by popular television shows about "a place in the sun" and sometimes actively recruited by other countries, record numbers of British nationals – about 200,000 in 2004 – are leaving the UK on a permanent or long-term basis each year. The result, according to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is that there are currently 4.5m British passport holders living overseas. In other words, there are more UK nationals living overseas than there are foreign nationals living in the UK. In global terms, the size of the UK’s diaspora is thought to be the second largest of any country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – behind Mexico.

More astonishing is what will happen in the coming years. One-fifth of retired British people are likely to spend their twilight years abroad, according to a recent survey. With one-quarter of the population likely to be of retirement age by 2030, this means several million more Britons heading to silver cities across the globe, taking billions of pounds of pensions with them. It is not just older folk who have itchy feet. A BBC poll last week suggested about three-quarters of young people are thinking about emigrating.

Despite its significance, relatively little attention is paid to emigration from the UK, especially when compared with the debate taking place on immigration. Yet there could be important economic implications, for example, when Britons contribute to economic activity in other countries then return home to retire or, conversely, leave the UK to spend their pensions abroad. In addition, the OECD estimates that Britons abroad are twice as likely to be tertiary educated as the domestic population. But having such a large presence overseas can also bring important trade and investment opportunities, as émigrés establish trade links or act as informal ambassadors.

As we have seen in Beirut recently, such a large and dispersed expatriate community means that, in times of crisis, the UK government needs accurate data on who is where at any given time. Other countries with relatively large diasporas have been quick to understand the potential of their populations overseas. Australia had a senate inquiry into its diaspora; Italy allocates seats in parliament to its emigrant population and India has a special ministry dealing with Indians overseas. The Irish and Scottish leaders make regular trips to canvass support from their diasporas; but will Tony Blair, UK prime minister, start touring Britons abroad?

Emigration also throws up some interesting and ironic contradictions. While the British may be happy to move overseas, many do not make the effort to integrate into their host communities. The Spanish Mediterranean coast is littered with settlements that look more like Blackpool than Barcelona, where fish and chips not paella is the order of the day, and where attempts to buy a tinto de verano in a seaside bar are met with blank stares. Not only do these British not speak Spanish but many of them have no qualms complaining about leaving a Britain they perceive as being inundated by immigrants who refuse to integrate.

Britain’s unique place at the nexus of immigration and emigration throws up some intriguing challenges for policymakers. The UK has developed a global outlook thanks to centuries of flows in and out. The challenge will be to harness the potential of one of the largest diasporas in the world. We need to know much more about who moves, why they move and how they integrate – not just about Britain’s immigrants but also about its emigrants.

Danny Sriskandarajah heads ippr's Migration, Equalities & Citizenship Team.