Offering passports to people from HK is akin to importing economic improvement

Britain’s decision to open a path to citizenship to almost 3million people from Hong Kong is very good for the UK, them and especially for the economy.

Hong Kong is one of the most efficient and successful economic hubs in the world. It surpasses most European nations in its glowing stats.

Before the anti-Beijing protests started last year, unemployment was around 3%.

Youth unemployment was roughly 6% – until the coronavirus struck. The equivalent figure has averaged around 17% in the UK since the financial crisis and circa 30% in Spain - and that was before the covid-19 lockdown.

Only seven Hong Kongers have died from the coronavirus out of a population of 7.3 million people - one of the lowest per million of population in the world. Britain has the 2nd worst death toll globally.

Productivity in Hong Kong over the last decade has grown by roughly a fifth while remaining stagnant in Britain and Germany. In fact according to the world economic forum, Hong Kong is the third most competitive nation in the world with average broadband speeds above 200Mb per second. Many rural parts of Europe can only dream of such speeds. A friend of mine in Essex says he gets 3Mbps on average

Hong Kong has 20 degree-awarding institutions or universities. Of those, five are in the top 100 ranked universities in the world. According to QS, the University of Hong Kong ranks just behind Cambridge and just above Oxford in ninth place, in terms of employability of graduates.

All this points to a highly qualified, talented and entrepreneurial population which is already bilingual, wealthy and with high living standards. Who would not want those kinds of immigrants?

Berlin, Paris, Dublin and any European capital should seriously consider replicating London’s very generous offer of citizenship for those disaffected Hong Kongers who see no future under much stricter control from Beijing. By doing so those nations that did so would almost certainly be importing future economic success and raising their own standards.

Where all these successful and ambitious people would be housed, is alas an argument for another day.