Brexit Britain ‘should axe cap on skilled migrants’
...but scrap EU citizens’ freedom of movement, experts tell PM
‘No control over level of migration’
2.9m Number of European Economic Area citizens in UK
271,000 Net migration in the year to March
20,700 Annual cap on visas for skilled non-EU workers, which would be scrapped under Migration Advisory Committee recommendations
£30k Current minimum salary for a medium or highly skilled foreign worker to get a job in Britain
1% Rise in house prices for every 1 per cent rise in migrant population
BRITAIN should throw open the doors to thousands more skilled migrants wanting to work in the UK, a major report has recommended.
The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said a cap on the number of visas given to talented foreign workers, including doctors, engineers and bankers, should be axed.
The panel faced anger after concluding that the skills bar should be lowered – making it easier for fish and chip shop owners, gardeners, hairdressers and bar managers to get into the UK. However, it also said the Government should end low- skilled EU migration by scrapping controversial freedom of movement rules.
In a boost to Theresa May, the MAC suggested there were no ‘compelling’ reasons why European citizens should have preferential access to the UK.
The Prime Minister has signalled that she prefers a ‘global’ system, where citizens from across the world are subject to the same immigration rules.
The study was commissioned by the Government to inform ministers as they devise a new immigration system for when the post-Brexit ‘transition’ period finishes at the end of 2020. Among a series of findings and recommendations, the report:
Called for free movement to end because there is ‘no guarantee that migration is in the interests of UK residents’;
Said there should be a ‘less restrictive’ regime for higher-skilled workers than lowskilled ones because they had higher earning and were more productive and innovative;
Advised ministers to maintain a £30,000 minimum salary limit for foreign citizen securing a work visa, so they pay more in tax than they would receive from welfare payments or public services;
Risked angering business by suggesting a block on lower-skilled workers – except in agriculture so crops do not rot in the fields;
Said there was no evidence that increased European migration, which is running at around 3 million people, had made it more difficult for UK citizens to get jobs;
Calculated that house prices increased 1 per cent for every 1 per cent rise in the migrant population;
Said EU migrants paid more in tax than they took in benefits, contributed more to the NHS workforce than the healthcare they accessed, and had no effect on crime rates.
Professor Alan Manning, chairman of the MAC, said the proposals were ‘designed to benefit the resident UK population’.
His landmark report recommended a Canadian- style immigration system that would end unpopular freedom of movement. But speculation has mounted that Downing Street may choose to give migrants from the EU better access in order to smooth negotiations with Brussels before the UK leaves in March next year.
Professor Manning said: ‘The problem with free movement is that it leaves migration to the UK solely up to migrants and UK residents have no control over the level and mix of migration.’
He also called on the Government to scrap a limit on the Tier 2 visa scheme for highly skilled workers – currently 20,700 each year from non-EU countries.
In a controversial move, the MAC recommended lowering the skills threshold to include ‘medium- skilled’ jobs. Plumbers, electricians and technicians would be included, but so would pub managers, beauty salon staff, pig breeders and gardeners.
Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of the Migration-Watch think-tank, said the MAC proposals would ‘permit continued high levels of immigration, including those with medium skills from all over the world’. He added: ‘This simply cannot go on. The overall outcome would be to weaken immigration control rather than strengthen it.’
The Home Office said it would carefully consider the recommendations.
FOR years the liberal Left has tried to stifle debate on the scandal of uncontrolled immigration by dismissing anyone in favour of stricter border controls as a knuckledragging racist.
So while millions of migrants poured in (2million from the EU alone between 2004 and 2014), putting huge pressure on housing and public services, the ordinary families affected were given no voice to object.
Though it was by no means the sole reason for the referendum result, the fact that a new social order was being imposed on them without any consultation was a major factor in why so many voted leave.
By putting an end to free movement, they hoped to stem the tide.
But this doesn’t mean migration should end completely after Brexit. That would be a ludicrous act of self-harm.
Brexit is not about pulling up the drawbridge. As with any sovereign state, it’s about having the power to decide for ourselves who should and shouldn’t be allowed to live and work here – wherever in the world they come from.
So the recommendation by the Migration Advisory Committee yesterday that EU citizens should be given no special preference for work visas after Brexit is no more than simple logic.
If Britain needs more nurses, or IT technicians, or chemists we should be attracting the best available in those fields. Whether they come from Bratislava, Brisbane or Bangalore is irrelevant.
The Mail has reservations about some of the committee’s other recommendations, however – especially scrapping the cap on overall numbers.
For while a cap may be a blunt instrument, any responsible government should have a notion of what constitutes an acceptable level of annual net migration.
In recent years, the total has averaged around 300,000 – equivalent to a city the size of Coventry being created every year.
One thing is certain. On an already heavily populated island, with a chronic shortage of housing and school places and an NHS on the brink of crisis – that’s too many.