Matt Smith, director at the Centre for Entrepreneurs, explores
the contribution of migrant entrepreneurs to the UK economy.
Immigration remains a highly charged topic of debate among the
British public and it shows no signs of abating. According to Ipsos
Mori it has risen from the fourth most important issue for voters
in 2010, to the second most important today.
The debate reached fever pitch in the run-up to the New Year
when restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians living in the UK were
lifted – an event that proved highly anti-climatic for those
predicting an influx on New Years Day. It then dominated the local
and European elections in May this year.
Throughout the whole debate one crucial element was consistently
overlooked by all sides – job creation by entrepreneurial
migrants. All debate seemed to rest on whether immigrants were
'taking our jobs'. As with so many other elements affecting
the immigration debate, there simply wasn't any research to
show
