‘Census’ of EU workers in UK to show impact of migration
A CENSUS-STYLE survey of every EU worker is being unveiled by the Home Secretary today.
Amber Rudd has told an independent panel to carry out the most comprehensive assessment ever of the role of European nationals in Britain’s economy and society.
But she hinted the UK would not take back full border control on Brexit day.
Experts will study exactly how many EU citizens have jobs, which sectors they work in, regional distribution, skill levels, seasonal workers and their impact on the competitiveness of UK industry.
It aims to help ministers devise an immigration system that keeps the economy buoyant after the country takes back control of its borders.
But Miss Rudd stressed there would be an ‘implementation period’ to ensure there is no ‘cliff edge’ for employers or EU nationals in Britain. She strengthened suggestions that free movement would not end in 2019 in order to give business and government time to adjust – fuelling claims there had been a ‘Brexit betrayal’ over open borders.
Concerns were raised that the Migration Advisory Committee has been asked to report by September 2018 – seven months before the UK’s scheduled departure from the EU in March 2019. It led to questions over whether this was cutting it too fine for the Government to piece together a new immigration policy.
The Office for National Statistics said more than 2.2million EU nationals aged 16-64 work in Britain. Manufacturing relies on 332,000 EU nationals while the wholesale and retail trade has 508,000.
Employers have warned that some sectors such as agriculture rely heavily on EU workers and could struggle if the labour supply dries up. The figures lay bare the challenges businesses face in weaning themselves off cheap foreign labour following Brexit.
Advisers will examine issues such as costs and benefits of EU migration – including potential impact of any fall in arrivals from Europe, such as the effect on hospitals and care homes.
They will also look at whether the availability of cheap, unskilled labour has led to low UK investment in certain sectors such as agriculture and food processing.
Writing to MAC chairman Professor Alan Manning, Miss Rudd will say that under a future system ‘we will be able to apply different immigration rules and requirements according to the UK’s economic and social needs’.
She described the study as a ‘major step in ensuring we create a system that works in the best interests of the country’.
Lord Green of Deddington, of thinktank Migration Watch, said: ‘This is a very welcome step. It is high time we had an objective evaluation of the true costs and benefits of EU migration.
‘It is especially important to take account of the massive impact of immigration on the size of our population and the resultant overcrowding.’