As immigration looms large in a number of elections in western democracies in 2024, the FT hosted a debate on how to address challenges long seen as too sensitive for mainstream politicians to tackle. Here are edited highlights of the January 24 conversation and Q&A with readers featuring Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator, Ruvendrini Menidikwela, UNHCR’s assistant high commissioner for protection, author and campaigner David Goodhart at the Policy Exchange thinktank, and Catherine Barnard, professor of EU law and employment law at the University of Cambridge.
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00:19 Martin Wolf: is it possible to work out optimal levels of migration?
02:50 Catherine Barnard: effect of EU freedom of movement on Brexit-voting Great Yarmouth
06:27 David Goodhart: immigration has not been the solution to stagnating economy but has been very dividing’
08:12 Ruven Menikdiwela: ‘the issue is the conflation of refugees and migrants’
11:00 Ruven Menikdiwela: ‘we UN folks have a reputation for admiring the problem but in this case we have been providing solutions’
12:24 Catherine Barnard: the refugee convention was an admirable product of its time but the world has changed dramatically
13:50 Catherine Barnard; the EU migration pact
15:24 David Goodhart: ‘the problem is not the Geneva convention but our inability to control the flows’
17:28 David Goodhart: ‘we select the most vulnerable instead of having a free for all
18:43: Ruven Menikdiwela Safe Mobility Offices set up en route to the US as one-stop shop for migrants and asylum seekers
19:53 Martin Wolf on effect of climate change on migration patterns now and in the future
23:24 Ruvendrini Menikdiwela: ‘People displaced by climate change would qualify as refugees’
24:23 Panel answers audience question: how can we ensure the debate about migration is informed rather than driven by politically motivated rhetoric
27:08 Martin Wolf: migration ‘is inherently political’
28:40 David Goodhart: ‘If the good politicians can’t sort out something as simple as [the boats] then people will vote for bad politicians’
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