[jonbxx]

Aah, I see the old EU immigration debate has come up again so I guess it's time to post a link to the governments own study - https://assets.publishing.service.go...EEA_report.PDF.

From that report we have;

Wages;

There is little evidence of substantial impacts of EEA immigration on the
overall employment opportunities of UK-born workers. Where some effect is
found, lower-skilled UK-born workers are more likely to lose out while higher skilled
workers tend to benefit.
• There is little evidence of substantial impacts of EEA immigration on
aggregate wages. Again, there is some evidence that lower-skilled workers
face a negative impact while higher-skilled workers benefit, however the
magnitude of the impacts are generally small.
• The earnings of the self-employed, regardless of nationality, are lower than
for employees and the gap is larger now than in the past. Further research
is required to ascertain what role, if any, immigration has played in this.

Public services;

EEA migrants contribute much more to the health service and the provision
of social care in financial resources and work than they consume in services.
• EEA workers are an increasing share of the health and social care
workforces though these sectors employ greater numbers of non-EEA
migrants.
• There is no evidence that migration has reduced the quality of healthcare.
• Social care is a sector that struggles to recruit and retain workers which is a
cause for concern as demand is rising inexorably. Its underlying problem is
a failure to find a funding policy that allows the payment of higher wages.
• In education, migrant children and the children of migrants are a higher
fraction of the school population than of the school workforce.
• There is no evidence that migration has reduced parental choice in schools
or the educational attainment of UK-born children. On average children with
English as an additional language out-perform native English speakers.
• Migrants are a small fraction of people in social housing but a rising fraction
of new tenants. The share of new tenancies going to migrants from the NMS
in particular is rising. Given there is little building of new social housing this
is inevitably at the expense of other potential tenants.

Again, the question remains why did successive UK governments allow unrestricted migration from the EU when there were mechanisms in place under EU law to prevent migration becoming an excessive burden to the state. This includes rules that say they must be working, self supporting or in education after three months or they must leave.Belgium manages this just fine.