IEA Director of Public Policy and Communications Matthew Lesh has written in City AM arguing that migrants should not be blamed for issues like the housing crisis and stagnant growth.

Matthew wrote:

“Immigrants are increasingly becoming scapegoats for Britain’s myriad problems. Braverman hinted at this tendency by warning that even if Britain ‘concreted over the countryside’ it would be impossible to accommodate everyone who wants to come.

“In practice, it would be perfectly possible to accommodate current levels of immigration – if not many more – through densification of existing cities with negligible impact on the countryside. But after many years of government failures on house building, it’s much easier to talk about immigration than admit that even if the UK closed the borders tomorrow, there would still be a housing crisis.”

Read Matthew’s full piece here.

Matthew also made the case for liberal immigration at the IEA’s Think Tent debate on the issue at Conservative Party Conference.