Shocking £29bn migrants bill
SCHOOLING for the children of EU migrants is set to hit taxpayers with a bill of up to £29billion over the next 14 years, according to anti-Brussels campaigners last night.
Research from the Vote Leave pressure group forecast that an extra 261,000 youngsters will be crammed into Britain’s classrooms by 2030 as a result of EU migration.
And the total could reach 571,000 if Turkey and a string of Balkan states join in the near future.
Vote Leave said the research showed the “devastating impact of uncontrolled migration on our schools” if Britain votes to remain in the EU in tomorrow’s referendum.
Tory minister Priti Patel, a leading Vote Leave supporter, said: “The EU is undemocratic and interferes too much in our daily lives.
“We have seen that with the scale of migration and the impact this has had on local communities – and key public services such as the NHS, housing and schools.
“With more countries waiting to join the EU, including Albania, Serbia, and Turkey – and with British taxpayers paying almost £2billion to help them join – this problem can only get worse.
“This research proves that class sizes are already overstretched, with an eight per cent increase over the past year in the number of pupils in classes over 30.
“These demands will only increase if the UK remains in the EU with no control over its borders.
“Thursday offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to say that the situation is unsustainable – and to recognise that it is hurting British families. On Thursday, we have the chance to take back control and Vote Leave.”
EU migration was already putting intense pressure on the country’s education system, Vote Leave said.
Research from the campaign showed that nearly one in five primary school children (19.4 per cent) has a first language other than English. About 100,800 infants were currently educated in classes above the legal limit of 30.
And 11.6 per cent of children were failing to get into their family’s firstchoice primary school.
But population projections by Vote Leave based on current migration trends suggested the pressure on schools will intensify drastically over the next decade and a half. Vote Leave estimated that there would be an extra 261,000 EU citizens of school age in the country by 2030 if the EU remains at its current size.
Under that projection, an extra £12.3billion would be needed in the education budget over the period to provide schooling for them.
And on top of that sum, a further £3.4billion would have to be spent
on new school buildings over the period.
If Turkey, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia join over the next few years, the number of EU migrant pupils could reach 571,000.
An increase at that level would require an extra £21.7billion for the day-to-day education budget plus £7.3billion on school buildings.
A poster highlighting the impact of mass migration from the EU on Britain’s schools was unveiled yesterday by Ukip leader Nigel Farage.
On the penultimate day of campaigning ahead of tomorrow’s referendum, he refused to shy away from the crunch issue of immigration that has dominated the debate.
The latest billboard poster from his anti-Brussels party was headlined: “The school over-run”.
It said: “Last year, nearly one in four primary schools were full or oversubscribed.”
The poster declared that the EU had “failed us all” and urged voters to “take back control of our borders” by voting to leave tomorrow.
Mr Farage unveiled the latest Ukip Brexit poster in Clacton, Essex, days after sparking controversy with another which carried the slogan Breaking Point, with a photo of a line of refugees moving through Slovenia to Croatia.
Ukip came under fire from Remain campaigners and the official Vote Leave group for the uncompromising image.
Mr Farage yesterday denied toning down Ukip’s campaign following the row.
He said: We had six posters to unveil over the week. The first one was about the EU, which you saw, which some people didn’t like. All the rest of them were about this country.”
He rejected criticism from Tory Chancellor George Osborne likening the “Breaking Point” poster to “Nazi propaganda”.
Mr Farage said: “It’s an utterly disgusting attempt to do that.
“I wonder what George Osborne’s got to say about the Operation Black Vote poster that showed a skinhead thug menacing an elderly Asian lady. Nothing was said about that.”
Mr Farage was welcomed in Clacton by scores of Brexit supporters as he toured the town in his open-top Ukip bus.
Later, the vehicle travelled on to Harwich where the Ukip leader tucked into a plate of whelks.
He said: “The best reason for these is you develop a terrific thirst and there’s a pub over the road.”