Andrew Putwain: Can you briefly introduce yourself, your role, and your background?
Madeleine Sumption: I run the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford. We produce impartial analysis of migration in the UK and the impacts of migration policy. We’re completely non-political: we don’t make any policy recommendations or advocate for anything other than better data and a sensible conversation about migration.
That’s unusual in a debate that's become heated and divisive, where many arguments get oversimplified. But there’s a huge appetite across the political spectrum for data people know they can trust, and that puts across the complexity in a clear way.
Migration Observatory work gets used a lot in the media, by civil servants and politicians, and by civil society organisations and commentators.
My background is in public policy, and I do a combination of academic research on migration and work for lay audiences. For example, I recently put what I’ve learned on this topic over the past 15 to 20 years into a book called “What is Immigration Policy For?”, which gives people a short explainer of why it is so difficult for governments to make immigration policies that achieve all the goals they set out to achieve.
I’m told it’s possible to read the whole thing on a long UK train journey.
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