The snarling dud of May

Theresa May, the home secretary and would-be successor to David Cameron, this week declared that “there is no case, in the national interest, for immigration of the scale we have experienced”. Wrong. In 2001-11 new immigrants from the European Economic Area (EEA) contributed one-third more in revenues than they drew in public spending, subsidising native Britons. This boost to the public purse will be handy. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expects the greying British public to push up borrowing requirements with its growing reliance on state health care and pensions. More young migrants would ease the pressure; under the OBR’s high-migration scenario, less borrowing would mean that by 2035 public debt would be lower than under the low-migration scenario to the tune of 7% of GDP. As well as reinforcing the Tories’ “nasty party” image, Ms May could undermine their reputation for fiscal prudence, too.