Never mind immigration – what about Britain's emigration crisis?

David Cameron wants to reduce net migration to the “tens of thousands”. To achieve it, he is talking up the Government’s plans to cut immigration, setting off all sorts of political spats. But, even as the Prime Minister speaks, his government is actually closing in on the target. Not because immigration is falling, of course, but because emigration is increasing. Not for the first time in our history, we are witnessing an exodus of Brits. And they are increasingly the people we can least afford to lose.

Over 1,000 people leave this country every day. Of that number, around 40 per cent are British citizens. According to the OECD, 3.4 million British citizens already live abroad, around 7 per cent of the population. Only Mexico has more expatriates. More importantly, a very high proportion is highly educated – 15 per cent of “highly skilled” Brits live abroad. That’s 1.3 million British graduates.

Large numbers of doctors, scientists and engineers in particular are fleeing – each one educated at taxpayer expense – and we are doing very little about it. Though the recession temporarily lowered emigration, it seems set to keep rising. That sucks away tax revenues, reduces the strength of the economy, and ironically, increases the demand for immigrants.

The problem is that as the population ages, it is intensifying the squeeze on the young. The average house price in London is now £408,000, so no wonder that the average first time buyer is 37 years old. Moreover, those houses are paid for only after the taxman has his take. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, some 1.6 million more people will be paying the higher rate of income tax by 2014 than are now. Many of those will be young professionals with families, who are also losing their child benefit. So is it any surprise that so many are choosing to leave?

If David Cameron genuinely wants us to become less dependent on immigrant workers, then he needs to do something to raise living standards for young educated people. That won’t be easy or cheap, but then nothing important ever is. And the longer he leaves it, the more dependent on cheap immigrant labour Britain becomes.