six hundred and six thousand

[Vic]

It would be an interesting set of data, but unfortunately it seems that the design of the migration surveys will fail to pick up this specific reason for returning to the UK. From a public finance, healthcare and growth perspective, it is clearly of interest if the UK nationals returning to the UK are retired / not economically active, and the UK nationals emigrating are younger and were previously part of the labour force.

The numbers in any given year are relatively small but would become significant when repeated over a prolonged period.

For the latest data, the 88k Brits returning were part of the overall inward migration of 1.163mn, and 92k Brits left the country as part of the overall outward migration of 557k, which obviously gives us the 606k net immigration figure. As such the net change in the overall numbers of British citizens was just 4k, essentially nil from a statistical perspective, but the 180k gross change could be significant if the people leaving and returning had very different characteristics.

As always with these type of data, the gross figures are more informative than the net. It would be ironic if migration trends are also contributing to the decline in the economic activity levels of the UK born population, which in turn requires further immigration to support the economy.

You mean the Brits leaving are fit young taxpayers being replaced by ageing creaking burdens on the health service. Who'd probably still vote for Brexit and complain about immigrants.

 

[Brewster's millions]

You mean the Brits leaving are fit young taxpayers being replaced by ageing creaking burdens on the health service. Who'd probably still vote for Brexit and complain about immigrants.

Pretty much. I think a lot of expats will ultimately have to move back from Spain, not least because (I believe) one of the key criteria for expats gaining permanent residency there is not having a criminal record.

Slightly ironic, that.

 

[Vic]

Pretty much. I think a lot of expats will ultimately have to move back from Spain, not least because (I believe) one of the key criteria for expats gaining permanent residency there is not having a criminal record.

Slightly ironic, that.

Surely the Costa del Crime escapees aren't that many...

 

[Corky]

I can’t play the video ! I’m out in town and it’s so long since I was in Manchester I’m struggling to find our way round, “conspiracy theory” high rise towers, road closures, all in an effort to concentrate the population into one area, walk and shop in one spot, but I read the comment section and agree with most except the racist few.

The tweet is 10+ years out of date, some Councils have been building housing again for a while after changes to allowing borrowing against their HRAs.

 

[Rascal]

The numbers arriving on "small boats" never seems to be mentioned. I have not seen a figure.

For context it took 838 "small boats" making multiple crossings to rescue 335,000 from Dunkirk. If 200 "small boats" carrying 30 people each arrived last year that would mean there was 6,000 arriving.