Jump directly to the content
PAY BOOST

Low-paid Brits could pocket a £150 rise once Theresa May is able to slash EU immigration, a report claims

Net migration could tumble by as much as 150,000 per year if Britain is able to restrict get back control of our borders

LOW-PAID Brits will pocket a wage rise of up to £150 once Theresa May takes back control of the UK’s borders and slashes EU immigration, a report claims.

A top economist has said net migration could tumble by as much as 150,000 a year if Brexit Britain slaps the same restrictions on EU migrants as those from the rest of the world.

 Net migration is expected to fall when we leave the EU, a new report says
2
Net migration is expected to fall when we leave the EU, a new report saysCredit: Reuters

Jonathan Portes, head of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said that under this “severe” scenario pay would rise by 0.8 per cent for low-income groups.

But he warned the pay rise would be a “cumulative” that takes effect over the next decade.

And he argued that Brits overall would be worse off from lower migration because of the far bigger hit to the country’s economic output. He said the fall in GDP per head of population could be as much as 3.4 per cent between now and 2030.

 But the pay rise is likely to take effect slowly over the next decade
2
But the pay rise is likely to take effect slowly over the next decadeCredit: PA:Press Association

Mr Portes told the Sun: “These numbers on the pay boost to low paid Brits are small and from an economic point of view the issue is the hit from the weaker economy will be much greater.”

Downing Street said the NIESR report itself admitted there was a “fair degree of doubt” about its findings.

Slashing net migration by 150,000 would still leave the Government short of its target of bringing the level down to the "tens of thousands". Official figures last week put net migration at more than 330,000 in the year to June.

In January the pro-immigration economist said that sky-high immigration since 2004 had only knocked around 1 per cent from the pay of low-skilled Brits since 2004.

He argued the level of minimum wage, decline in trade union power, technological and industrial change would have had far bigger impact on pay in blue-collar sectors.

Topics