Keep the migrant cap

THE Mail understands the difficulties ministers face as they try to manage an NHS short of 10,000 doctors and 35,000 nurses.

With the Health Service under great pressure, the decision to tear up immigration limits on medical staff from non-EU countries must have seemed like an easy fix. But this policy raises profound concerns.

Yes, it is supposedly a short-term measure. But how often have we seen such ‘ temporary’ decisions becoming permanent? Meanwhile, poorer developing countries that can ill afford it will be deprived of their brightest and best.

Taking medical workers out of the cap on skilled migrants will also mean 8,000 additional visas, increasing net migration and sending the perverse message that there is no need to invest in indigenous Britons.

In truth, the real cause of the shortage of NHS staff is the failure – over decades – to ensure there are enough trained staff to fill these vacancies, as well as hold on to newly qualified doctors and nurses. And why aren’t the four in ten GPs who drop out after five years required to pay back some of the costs of their £500,000 training?

But the greatest danger of all is that this policy becomes the thin end of the wedge, and every other sector of the economy starts demanding more migrants to quench their insatiable thirst for cheap foreign labour.

Those ministers who agitate for looser migration controls are ignoring the clear message sent by voters at the referendum and confirmed by every opinion poll since: The public want numbers to fall. Almost alone in Cabinet, Mrs May recognises legitimate concerns about migration and its impact on public services. At a time when Brexit should allow Britain to take control of its borders, she must ensure lifting the cap does not become a Trojan horse for a migration free-for-all.