Non-European migrants living in Britain have cost the public finances almost £120billion since 1995, according to a study.

The report by University College London found that the immigrants had cost the country more in public services and State handouts than they had paid in taxes in every single year between 1995 and 2011.

The research by Dr Tommaso Frattini and Professor Christian Dustmann – which comes at a time of huge public concern over migration policy – sought to put an overwhelmingly positive gloss on the economic impact of mass immigration.

Migrants lining up at the French port town of Calais with some trying to travel to Britain. A new study has found non-European migrants coming to Britain have cost the country £120billion since 1995

Headline-billing was given to a claim that migrants who arrived from the European Economic Area – predominantly the EU – since 2000 made a net contribution of £20billion.

Three-quarters of the contribution – £15billion – was made by people born in the 15 members of the European Union prior to the ‘big bang’ admittance of Eastern Bloc countries in 2004. It includes huge sums paid in by the likes of French bankers and German engineers.

A further £5billion came from the East Europeans. Recent non-European immigrants’ net contribution was also said to be positive, at about £5billion.

But buried inside the 51-page report was the calculation showing that, if the time period 1995-2011 is considered instead, non-European migrants living in Britain took out more than they put in for 17 consecutive years.

THE 'COSTLY' BRITS For 12 of the past 17 years, native Britons have taken out more in public services and State benefits than they have paid to the Exchequer. Millions of workers will have made a net contribution. But, overall, the drain on the public finances between 1995 and 2011 was more than £541billion – reflecting the significant deficit being racked up in recent years. Factors include rising unemployment and the large welfare bill during the financial crash, which began in 2008. The report ends in 2011 just as the economic recovery is getting under way. Advertisement

Crucially, this group includes all non-EEA migrants – not just the new arrivals since 2000, who Dustmann and Frattini focus upon.

In understated language, the study reports: ‘Over the 17 fiscal years considered, the amount of public expenditures received by natives [Britons] exceeds the amount of government revenues they contributed in 12 instances.

Although such is also the case for non-EEA immigrants for all 17 fiscal years, it applies to EEA immigrants for seven years.’

The explanation given is that non-EEA nationals – many of whom are likely to have arrived from the Commonwealth – may have been in the UK longer, have more children and a lower employment rate.

Overall, the net cost to the UK of non-EEA nationals living in Britain between 1995 and 2011 was nearly £118billion. EEA nationals contributed £4.425billion.

Critics will say the report is backward looking – focusing on the taxes paid by the influx of Eastern Europeans when they are young, single and healthy – but not the future burden their families may place on schools, hospitals and the welfare state.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, said the report had confirmed that immigration had cost the country vast sums over the past 17 years.

He added: ‘As for recent European migrants, even on their own figures, which we dispute, their contribution to the Exchequer amounts to less than £1 per week per head of our population. Meanwhile, they have added one million to the number of people on this island.’

Last night, David Green, director of independent think-tank Civitas, accused the authors of making ‘shallow calculations’ to prove their case, while ignoring the social harms caused by mass immigration.

For example, Dustmann and Frattini say immigrants have ‘endowed the UK labour market with human capital that would have cost £49billion through the UK education system’.

However, Mr Green says the arrival of well-educated young migrants coincided with a slump in apprenticeships for UK teenagers – at great social cost.