Another day, another map!
We've already done our first campaign aimed at Polish immigrants to the UK, so I was interested to see a recent report 'Floodgates or Turnstiles' by the Institute of Public Policy Research. (See also http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7370955.stm for more interactive maps from the report.)
The map below shows the distribution across the UK of registered migrants from the "Accession 8" countries which joined the EU in May 2004: Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The picture seems to be more one of the Lithuanian Fish Farmer or the Slovakian Fruit Picker than the stereotypical Polish Plumber so beloved of the tabloid press. It's astonishing how the hot spots of immigration are generally not the major cities, but agricultural areas like the Highlands of Scotland, Norfolk and Herefordshire.
That's quite different to other waves of immigration in the past. And as the IPPR points out, another major difference is that it is very easy for migrants from Eastern Europe to return home on the same cheap flights that brought them to the UK. In fact half of all migrants may already have returned.
With free mobility across the EU, we can't take it for granted that the UK will always be the most popular destination for migrants. With parts of the rural economy now very dependent on migrant workers (not just agriculture, but tourism as well) we could well see the marketing challenge of the future being to persuade workers to stay a wee while longer in the Scottish Highlands.
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