Immigrants have cost the British taxpayer more than £140 billion since the mid 1990s, a rate of over £22 million a day, according to a new report from MigrationWatch UK.
The report adds that in 2011 costs were equivalent to each of the eight million foreign-born people residing in Britain costing £3,000.
The report was published in response to a study by University College London which said that last year immigrants made a “substantial contribution” to public finances in the UK.
The Telegraph says that MigrationWatch UK, who campaign against mass immigration, said the UCL report’s conclusions were “simply wrong”. In fact, when you take into consideration the amount immigrants cost in terms of benefits and tax credits, the taxpayer has made a net loss of over £140 billion due to immigration.
The cost was £23 billion in 2011 alone, or £3,000 per immigrant. The group say that this is equivalent to the amount spent on GPs and dentists by the NHS each year.
MigrationWatch also accused the authors of the UCL report of burying a significant figure in the annex of their report. The group said it was “truly astonishing” that a figure showing the overall cost of immigration had been £95 billion “was not even mentioned in the report”.
Commenting on his group’s report, MigrationWatch chairman Sir Andrew Green said: “Our report finally disposes of the immigration lobby’s oft repeated claims that immigration reduces our tax burden.
“The total cost is high and increased dramatically between 1995 and 2011, providing no compensation for the overcrowding of this island which we are experiencing, largely as a result of immigration.
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