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"It's worth bearing in mind that when we talk about immigrants in this country, these are immigrants currently saving people's lives", Piers Morgan commented on Good Morning Britain last week. his statement would have rung true if said last month, last year, during the EU referendum campaign or at any time in the recent history of migration to the UK. These positive arguments about migration are rarely heard in the mainstream media. The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis brought about a change, at least on the surface, in the rhetoric on immigration. In this blog, Alexandra Bulat (UCL) argues that soundbites won’t help migrants – policy change will.

There is only one priority for Germany and the UK right now and that is dealing with COVID-19. The available estimates of the costs of shutdown in the form of lost value-added show that the coronavirus epidemic will cause costs that will probably exceed everything known from economic crises or natural disasters in both countries since the Second World War. In the meantime, Brexit has happened and while some may fear that a British withdrawal from the EU could turn Germany into a hegemon, Brexit actually has complicated and isolated Germany’s role in the EU, argues John Ryan (LSE).