OECD says Brexit would cut immigration by 84,000 a year

We should assume that today’s OECD report on Brexit was intended to frighten Britain into voting to remain in the EU. Ángel Gurría, its secretary-general, has tried to translate his figures into a blood-curdling soundbite about losing a month’s salary by 2030 (something that could easily be remedied by a tax cut). Its finding is that the trade we’d apparently forfeit would make the UK economy 5pc smaller that it would otherwise be 2030, not quite so bad as the 6pc estimated by the Treasury. And by the OECD’s maths, the “cost” to households is closer to £700 a year than George Osborne’s made-up figure of £4,300 a year.

But because the OECD report is not as deceitful as the shameful document produced by George Osborne last week, we can see more of its working (the Treasury tried to cover its tracks). And the OECD’s assumption is that net immigration would plunge by about 84,000 by 2030: a Brexit effect. And