Part of 2. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 19 September 2017.
Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. In the Government’s document, ‘Brexit and Fair Movement of People’, it acknowledges that, in the British social attitudes survey in 2013, 86 per cent of the UK population wanted to see immigration reduced, and yet the policy of the Government here in Cardiff, in this document, is to oppose the introduction of any form of target for a reduction of immigration. The latest figures show a significant reduction on what we’ve seen in recent years, but even at 0.25 million a year net migration, which we currently have, that would add, if sustained, 8 million to our population by 2032, 21 million by 2064, when the population of the UK would be 85 million. That is just not sustainable. Before the First Minister says that, well, immigration is absolutely vital for economic growth, in 2014, the Office for Budget Responsibility did a study of the effects of immigration at current levels, 0.25 million net a year. That adds 0.4 per cent to GDP but also 0.4 per cent to population, so that GDP per capita wouldn’t improve; it’s neither here nor there. Isn’t it time that the Welsh Government woke up to the realities of life in modern Britain?