Editorial: Migration dilemma for UK

A campaigner wearing a Vote Leave t-shirt and holding a British Union Flag. Photo / Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg

This week Britain will go to the polls to decide whether or not they want to stay in the European Union.

There are enough British people in New Zealand - including most of my immediate family - to allow a reasonable discussion on the matter, even in a country so far from Europe.

I sometimes think it is an ironic topic for those Brits who are here in New Zealand, when you consider the EU referendum really boils down to one major angst: migrants.

By and large, Europe has passport-free movement among its countries, although the UK isn't part of this and still has checks at its borders. But when the EU expanded in 2004 the UK allowed free movement to England for citizens from EU member countries - in keeping with being a member of the EU.

It is interesting to listen to former UK citizens, here in New Zealand, talk about leaving the EU. Many in the UK want to leave the EU so their country can curtail migration, or at least stem it, by no longer being required to have the free movement deal.

Yet the British in New Zealand are here because our country welcomed them in as migrants. This is simplistic, of course, and it is a question of degree. In 2015, net migration to the UK was around 333,000 - the second highest level on record.

You could call it racism, you could call it xenophobia, but I suspect even the most moderate and open-minded of Brits can't be blind to the idea that just about everyone who serves you coffee in England is from another country.

We used to joke that Kiwis and Aussies flatted seven to a house in Earl's Court in London, but this is happening in cities like Oxford, and to a far greater extent than the antipodean invasion to the UK.

So, the weight is definitely there, and perhaps it is too much. It is more than just numbers. It becomes a confused, mixed-bag culture in a country which is certainly used to different people and different languages, but it could be argued as unfair on a small nation.

I would like the UK to stay in the EU, but I also think the free movement policy has strained the country enough.

I don't think it is racist to argue that there are limits to what a small country can take.