Nigel Farage
Is this country now so packed that there really isn’t any room for new people?
That’s Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s claim—one he uses mainly to target non‑white and non-Christian migrants.
In fact, most of Britain has too few people and is far short of the number of people of working age needed to support an older population.
That’s because, rather than being a burden, people are what allows our society to function—and that includes those who have arrived here only recently.
And Britain is far from overpopulated. There are some 734 people per square mile in the United Kingdom. In Wales and Scotland that falls to 400 and 180 people, respectively.
The Netherlands, for example, is far more densely populated, with some 1,350 people per square mile.
Yet, instead of being poorer as a result, average income is greater than in Britain. It is one of the richest countries in Europe.
While many of us here feel cramped, even in the most heavily populated areas of Britain—in the south east of the country—not everyone experiences it.
In leafy Surrey, more land is devoted to golf courses than housing, according to a study by the London School of Economics.
What is true is that most of us have experienced overcrowded housing, packed local transport and overfull NHS services.
But these issues are not related to how many people are in Britain, but how the country allocates its resources.
Britain spends far less on healthcare than many European countries—including Germany and France.
According to the Health Foundation think tank, if spending here matched those two countries, our NHS would have received a boost of up to 39 percent over a decade.
And so many thousands of doctors, nurses and other health workers have come to Britain from abroad that the NHS could not survive without them.
The lie that “Britain is full” is being spread by people who want to cover up the real reasons why life is getting worse for ordinary people—austerity.
Racism first developed as a justification for enslavement
