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@ Anon 16:36
We've had a points-based system for non-EU immigration since 2008. Yet we have 316,000 non-EU arrivals (year ending March 2018) compared with 226,000 EU arrivals. As a matter of fact, over the last fifteen or so years, non-EU immigration has largely outstripped EU immigration, points system or no points system.

The fact that Remain had no real answer to the immigration question was in large part down to the fact that it's a complex issue with a long history. Successive UK govts have, since at least the mid-1990s if not earlier, taken a liberal approach to immigration. This has resulted in a situation where we don't apply the EU rules as other states do and we allow a large number of EU citizens to remain in the country (and claim benefits + NHS treatment) in cases where in fact they have no right to be here.

Add to this our flexible job market plus the failure by Tony Blair to apply the transitional measures for Eastern European states from 2004 (applied by nearly all other EU states) and you have substantial pull factors resulting in large numbers of EU citizens coming here.