WHEN a recent poll suggested that Scots attitudes to immigration were not so very different from those South of the Border there was unalloyed glee on the Right of the political spectrum.
See? We're all the same, they claimed, although The Herald pointed out that there were in fact discernible differences.
Now we can see the kind of hard and fast evidence on the contribution made by new Scots to our society which helps to explain the different political climate here. UKIP exploits the notion that foreign, in particular East European labour floods the nation and prices poor Britons out of work. Statistics from Scotland's chief statistician paint an entirely different picture. Just under half of our our migrants are educated to at least degree level, almost double the level of our general population.
The 2011 Census data also showed that of those coming to Scotland from outwith Europe 60% were already graduates and overall migrants across the age spectrum were equally likely to be economically active compared with the population as a whole.
Humza Yousaf, the closest Scotland has to a Foreign Minister, pointed out that our migrant population was well educated, hard working and in rude health - all things which benefit a country facing demographic challenges.
"This data busts many of the misconceptions that exist about the impact and contribution of migrants in Scotland. It demonstrates that most of our migrants are here to study, work and contribute," he said, highlighting the contribution to our society, economy and demographic challenges.
The Scottish migrant community is around seven per cent of the population, and the racial tensions of parts of England are less evident, although by no means absent.
The most pressing issue is the Westminster decision to end post study work visas for those who have completed their post graduate degrees in Scotland. This is a serious disincentive to overseas studies coming here to study and this is seen by our universities as seriously damaging to a vital income stream from students undergoing advanced studies.
During the referendum debate last year the notion of a single island nation without borders having tailored immigration policies for its constituent parts was much ridiculed at Westminster and by London-based critics. The Sturgeon Government should be putting in place serious, pragmatic arguments about how this could be achieved.
One suggestion has been a form of Green Card system tying immigrants to their places of study and employment. It should not be beyond our wit to devise a system which allows Scotland to attract postgraduate students and retain them in the workplace here without undermining different policy choices South of the Border.
Mr Yousaf said, and we concur, that immigration policy is too heavily influenced by priorities in the South, not least the perceived need to pander to UKIP in the run-up to a General Election.
"Scotland's needs are different to those in the rest of the UK. Scotland has a large, established migrant community and the Scottish Government welcomes the contribution new Scots are making to our economy and society," said the Minister for Europe and External Affairs. Our university principals agree, and so do we.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article