If you were to close your eyes at any debate on immigration, you might reasonably picture the participants standing back-to-back, shouting and gesticulating to opposite corners of the room. On such occasions, there’s typically only one point on which everyone actually agrees: that very highly skilled migrants – doctors, engineers, scientists – are welcome here in Britain.
Oddly, though, nobody ever seems follow up with the obvious question: what about the countries these migrants leave behind?
Look at the four nations from which we take most foreign doctors – India, Pakistan, South Africa and Nigeria. Is it not unfair to deprive them of their brightest medical minds? South Africa has the world’s largest population of people with AIDS – are its 5,000 doctors here really being put to best use?
Finding the evidence to prove the actual effects of immigration policy is, of course, tricky.
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