Electioneering politicians are banging on (again) about illegal and legal migrants. Picking on outsiders appeases disgruntled “patriots”.

But get this: nearly 11 million people of working-age people are unemployed, nine million of whom are not looking for work.

We will come to the possible explanations for that later. Consider now some new recent research from Oxford’s Migration Observatory: “In 2022, 26 per cent of those born in the UK who were unemployed had been so for over a year, compared to 20 per cent of non-EU migrants and 15 per cent of EU migrants.” Migrants are also less likely to claim benefits.

My own anecdotal experience increasingly makes me believe that, unless there is rampant discrimination against white Britons, more people of migrant heritage are working harder than ever, while British natives appear to be losing the work ethic of their parents and grandparents.

No Tory will say that aloud, though a few MPs have privately shared those views with me. Labour, meanwhile, is hyper-focused on border control. Instead of recognising the contributions migrants past and present are making to the economy and our public services, Wes Streeting brands the use of overseas NHS workers “immoral” and opposes their right to bring their families........

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