West Midlands could ‘set own immigration target’ with visas MPs say policy on foreign workers should be devolved to mayor

THE West Midlands mayor should be allowed to set his own immigration target, according to MPs.

The idea of a ‘West Midlands visa’ was mooted after more than 49,000 overseas migrants arrived in the region in a year.

Long-term overseas migration into the region – people staying for at least a year – was 49,148 over 12 months, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The number of people leaving the region for overseas was 19,616, giving a net migration figure of 29,532.

There was a significant fall in net immigration into the UK as a whole, apparently prompted by the EU referendum and Brexit.

It comes as a group of MPs sug- gested regions such as the West Midlands should be allowed to set their own immigration target and give firms the right to recruit foreign workers without advertising jobs in the UK.

Foreign workers could be offered a West Midlands visa allowing them to come to the UK on condition they stayed in the region for at least two years, under proposals from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Integration, chaired by high-profile Labour MP Chuka Umunna.

The report by MPs says that mayors and local councils should be allowed to set their own immigration policies. At a minimum, they should be able to allow employers “to offer particular jobs to non-EU nationals without first advertising them domestically.”

They added: “Immigrants would be expected to stay in a particular region for a minimum period of time (perhaps two-to-three years) before gaining the right to live anywhere in Britain.”

The group also said every immigrant who did not speak fluent English should be required to take language classes, which they would pay for themselves under a system similar to student loans. MPs said their research had found many migrants felt the UK had become less tolerant since the Brexit vote.

Mr Umunna said: “The demonisation of immigrants, exacerbated by the poisonous tone of the debate during the EU referendum campaign and after, shames us all and is a huge obstacle to creating a socially integrated nation.”

Net immigration into the UK fell significantly to 246,000 in the past 12 months because EU citizens are quitting the UK Britain ahead of Brexit.

Despite the fall, the figures from the ONS show that the Government is a long way from achieving its long- standing goal of getting immigration down below 100,000.

The total number of overseas immigrants coming into the UK was 588,000 in the 12 months up to March 31, 2017. The number of people leaving the UK was 342,000.

Net migration, the difference between the number coming in and the number leaving, was 81,000 lower than a year previously.

Nicola White, ONS Head of International Migration Statistics, said the change seemed to be a result of migrants from eastern European countries, known as the EU8, leaving the UK. The EU8 includes Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia and Latvia.

She said: “These results are similar to 2016 estimates and indicate that the EU Referendum result may be influencing people’s decision to migrate into and out of the UK, particularly EU and EU8 citizens.”

The demonisation of immigrants... shames us all Labour MP Chuka Umunna