Can UK governments ever get immigration policy right?

Book launch event for 'Why Immigration Policy Is Hard' by Professor Alan Manning

UpcomingThursday 4 December 2025

Immigration is one of the most salient and polarised issues among the British public – and one that successive Government policy initiatives have failed to resolve. Now central to the UK’s political debate, the issue regularly makes headlines and is used as a device by parties to win public opinion. Seen by some as a missing part of the UK’s growth strategy, and by others as having gone too far, any discussions are often binary and divisive. And while politicians recognise the need to get immigration policy right; they continue to be torn over what strategy is best, let alone how to deliver it.

The challenges for Britain’s migrant workforce

Understanding precarious work among foreign-born workers, and implications for wider labour market policy.

Monday 14 April 2025

What are the labour market experiences of foreign-born workers? How do systemic issues allow poor practices to persist? What are the wider implications for the UK labour market? And how can policy – including the measures in the upcoming Employment Rights Bill – better protect workers?

On the road

How will post-Brexit migration changes change Britain?

Thursday 17 February 2022

Migration has been centre stage in economic debates this century. For some higher migration is the root cause of Britain’s low pay, low productivity challenges, while for others it is the answer to labour and skill shortages. The Prime Minister argues lower migration is the route to the UK having a higher wage future. The … Continued

A new era

What do Brexit and Covid mean for migration and the UK labour market?

Thursday 17 December 2020

On 1 January 2021, freedom of movement between the EU and the UK will end, and the UK’s new points-based immigration system will begin. This will mean major change for sectors of the economy – from fruit-picking to social care – heavily reliant on lower-paid migrant labour.  And even before Britain ‘takes back control’ of … Continued

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