Erm... I knew that logic education was lacking, but I didn't realise history was as well.
Britain was built on immigrants. From the days of Empire through to the Windrush generation and onwards.
Wow, so nice to me about my education levels!
But no. Look at this graph, courtesy of
Migration Watch:
It shows that almost throughout the 100 years prior to Windrush in the late 1940s, the % of England+Wales population that was foreign-born was negligible. Yet during that period, the inflation-adjusted England per capita GDP nearly tripled, from £2914 in 1850 to £7301 in 1950 (
Source. Data in 2013 prices). So clearly immigration was not necessary for growth. [*]
Besides, think of the logic of what you're suggesting. Remember that, on a World-wide scale, immigration is a zero-sum game: One country's immigration is another country's emigration. If, as you claimed, immigration was necessary for economic growth, than it would be impossible for the economy of the World as a whole to ever grow! I think history has something to say about that conclusion
[*] Yes I know one set of stats is for England and Wales, the other is for just England, and neither is for the UK as a whole. That's not going to make a lot of difference though because Wales is much smaller than England, and England makes up such a high proportion of the UK population.