UK study moots incentives to retain skilled migrants

A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank in the UK has called for incentives to thousands of 'super-mobile' well-educated migrants who possess much-needed skills that are in demand. They should be given tax-breaks and other incentives to stay on in UK and not move to competing countries, the report says.

At least 200,000 foreign nationals will leave the UK every year as job opportunities shrink, the study notes. While the number of foreigners leaving Britain would still be smaller than the numbers arriving, the 'remigration' could potentially slow the growth in the British population.

Government data put the foreign migrants leaving Britain at around 125,000 a year in the first half of the decade.

However, with travel getting easier and the UK economy in the grip of the recession, the IPPR predicts that the annual exodus would grow.

IPPR says around 200,000 skilled migrants will leave the UK for three years from 2008 after which the numbers would fall to around 150,000 a year for at least five years. Between 2008 and 2013 around 950,000 immigrants would leave Britain the IPPR report says.

However, the remigration is not going to stop the growth in population which is set to grow to 65 million by 2016 and 70 million by 2028.