It will be “extremely difficult” to deliver deep cuts in immigration if Britain leaves the European Union, a leading British economist has warned.
If cuts of 50% were achieved, Jonathan Portes, a former chief economist at the Cabinet Office, said the long-term consequences would lead to a 2p increase in income tax.
Writing in a paper for the National Institute of Economic and Social Research published on Tuesday lunchtime, Portes addsthat leaving the EU would take Britain into new territory for immigration policy.
He says the option of voting to leave but staying within the EU free movement area to qualify for access to the single market will mean only a small reduction in migration to Britain is possible. “Indeed, both Switzerland and Norway have higher levels of migration from within the EU than the UK does now,” he says.
