In the EU debate about control, today’s NI migrant stats are particularly toxic

Statistics revealing the number of foreign workers in the UK are an age-old headache for the Government of the day. But with only six weeks to go until the EU referendum, today’s publication of National Insurance figures showing how many people from Europe are working here could prove particularly toxic. We now know that last year 626,000 EU migrant workers registered for NI numbers. But whilst there was a small drop from the last set of stats, the Brexit campaign will be keen to capitalise on the apparent gulf between that figure and the overall net migration to the UK last year, which had been estimated at only 323,000.

In fact, there’s nothing fishy about the discrepancy between the figures, which are showing two different things. And the Office for National Statistics appears almost painfully eager to downplay what the stats show. The ONS’ Glen Watson says in relation to the figures:

‘The number of short term migrants coming to the UK to work or study has been rising recently, but you need to consider the short term migrants leaving these shores as well to get the full picture.’