The UK’s Demographic Future

Lord Sarfraz Excerpts

Thursday 11th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sarfraz (Con)]

My Lords, I too congratulate my noble friend on this report, on the debate and on a lifetime of public service. The report makes it absolutely clear that we will continue to need high-quality, highly skilled individuals who, above all, can contribute directly to economic growth, but every country in the world is now aggressively competing for that same group of global talent. Some are doing so with golden visas, others with citizenship by investment, and today we have heard about the launch of the “Trump card” in the US. Yet contributing to Britain’s economy no longer requires you to be physically present in this country. In fact, many highly productive people could easily live somewhere else while still contributing meaningfully to our economy.

The Government should therefore perhaps consider establishing a British digital residency programme. A digital resident would not need to come to the UK physically but could incorporate a British company, open a British bank account, benefit from British commercial courts, bid on British contracts, hire local professional service providers, transact in pounds and pay tax on UK-based income without placing any strain whatever on our public services. This is not a silver bullet for immigration policy, but it allows us to think differently about immigration. Other nations have experimented with digital residency, Estonia being the clearest example. Estonian digital residents have built some amazing companies without ever stepping foot in Estonia. The UK could offer a far more powerful, globally attractive version and the highest-performing digital residents could even be offered pathways to physical residency.

Alongside this, we should recognise the value of short-term digital nomads. Many countries now offer one-year visas that allow people to live and work temporarily without being eligible for any public services, and those countries are attracting talent and entrepreneurship. We do not offer this visa category at all; we are leaving the opportunity on the table, whereas Portugal, Spain and Germany are embracing it.

Finally, as robotics accelerates, it is absolutely true and a very good thing that we will see robots deployed at scale in industries across the country, including in agriculture and manufacturing. Sooner or later, harvesting robots will be picking strawberries in Kent and robots will be making cars in the West Midlands. We are witnessing a wave of inward investment into manufacturing across Europe and the US, much of which is possible only because factories are now highly automated. This shows that robotics does not kill manufacturing; it saves it, and it attracts global capital even in high-wage countries.

I urge noble Lords not to be suspicious of robots. Robots are nice. They do not require GP appointments. They do not need housing. They do not need visas for dependants and, so far, they have not willingly committed any crimes, yet they will unquestionably create local jobs, local industries and new opportunities for British entrepreneurs. Maintaining these machines, operating them and renting them out are all components of hyper local economic growth.

This report is called Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow. In doing so, we must recognise that tomorrow’s economic contribution will come in new and exciting forms—some human, some digital and some robotic. In thinking about tomorrow, we must be ready for what is inevitably coming.