Should we trust a new study that claims that the level of irregular migration in the UK has essentially not changed in the past 16 years? That is the assertion being made in the reporting of a project called Measuring Irregular Migration, or MIrreM – a collaboration between Oxford University and 17 other universities across Europe and North America.
‘Irregular Migration to the UK and other large European countries is same as 2008, research shows,’ states a headline in the Guardian. This, needless to say, flies in the face of reports over the weekend that nearly 1,000 migrants arrived in small boats in a single day. Visibly, irregular migration appears to be out of control: so is the Guardian really right to state that nothing has really happened since 2008 – in other words, nothing to see here, please move along?
The first thing to note is that irregular migration is not synonymous with small boat arrivals – the latter is only a subset of the former, which also includes people arriving in lorries, turning up at ports and airports without documentation – as well as people who overstay visas.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in