Poorly controlled migration from EU countries is one of the main arguments of supporters of Britain's exit from the European Union
As the BBC notes, almost every resident of the UK has a unique code – a National Insurance number consisting of letters and digits. Those born in the United Kingdom receive such a number shortly before their 16th birthday. Everyone who comes to the UK for work purposes must obtain a National Insurance number.
The number is needed for proper accounting of all taxes and contributions to the state social insurance fund that every British taxpayer pays. This number also allows access to the social security system – including pensions, benefits, and so on.
The latest data published by the Office for National Statistics show large differences between government estimates of the number of long-term migrants who came to the UK and the number of foreign nationals who received National Insurance numbers. Thus, between June 2011 and 2015, 1,000,400 long-term migrants arrived in the United Kingdom. At the same time, over the same period, 2,234,000 National Insurance numbers were issued to EU citizens.
Deputy Home Secretary for Immigration James Brokenshire believes that the gap in the data may 'be largely explained by migrants from the EU who come to the UK for a short time'. According to him, 'any person working in the UK for even a few weeks can obtain a National Insurance number, and the Office for National Statistics clearly explains why these numbers should not be equated with immigration data – they are simply two different things'.
The fact is that short-term migrants – people coming to the United Kingdom for less than a year – are not counted in the overall state immigration statistics. However, according to former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith, they 'cannot be ignored'.
'Wages for people in low- and medium-skilled sectors have fallen – and all as a result of the lack of border control with short-term immigration,' said Duncan Smith in an interview with the BBC. 'I am amazed that the government states its desire to reduce the number of migrants by tens of thousands, but at the same time considers it unimportant how many people come to the country if they do not stay longer than 52 weeks.'
Iain Duncan Smith, like other supporters of the UK's exit from the EU, believes that the state is unable to control the number of migrants, which has sharply increased in the last 10 years while remaining a member of the European Union and subject to the laws on the free movement of its citizens.
Meanwhile, HM Revenue and Customs published preliminary data showing that recently arrived migrants from the EU paid five times more in taxes than they received in benefits. According to the service, these migrants paid £3.1 billion in income tax and National Insurance contributions for the 2013 financial year – that is, from April 2013 to March 2014. At the same time, they received benefits worth £556 million. Thus, their net contribution to the UK economy is more than £2.5 billion (more than $3.6 billion).