The Daily Mail reports that up to a million immigrants will be leaving the UK over the next 5 year as either their visas expire or job opportunities begin to dry up as the recession continues to batter the country.

One of the unremarked features of immigration is that it is very often short lived. Those of you who are old enough might remember that it was once Brits who travelled abroad for a year or two at a time to work in construction and the like. Auf Weidersehn, Pet wasn’t merely a sitcom – but reflected an everyday reality. Even now, it is commonplace to find Britons working in (admittedly more white-collar) jobs in places such as Dubai.

So, as jobs in particular sectors dry up it is true that many migrants will return to the security of home. Whether the figures will hold up over the course of 5 years as predicted is unlikely however. Once economic growth returns to the UK, cheap labour will once again be sought and our long history of immigration will resume as it was as likely as not.