TORIES ARE RUDDERLESS ON BREXIT
One Tory offers hope to firms who need skilled EU workers.. while another says free movement dies in 2019
TORY immigration plans were all at sea yesterday after Home Secretary Amber Rudd tried desperately to soften the blow of Brexit.
More than a year after English voters backed Leave, Rudd finally announced a review to assess just how valuable skilled workers from the EU are to our economy.
Rudd revealed the move as she toured a new border patrol boat at Troon. But Tory colleague Brandon Lewis had already torpedoed her attempt to ease business leaders’ fears of a disastrous hard Brexit.
He said bluntly: “Free movement of labour ends when we leave the European Union in the spring of 2019. We’re very clear about that.”
Rudd said she wanted to reassure bosses there will be no “cliff edge” when Britain leaves. And she insisted there was no contradiction between her soft words and Lewis’s tough talk.
She said: “When we leave the EU in March 2019, the current freedom of movement will obviously end. So what we’ll need is a new system.”
Rudd said the Home Office-sponsored Migration Advisory Committee would look at the role of EU nationals in our economy to help shape that new system.
She added: “We will need a grace period for a while before the full changes come in, which is what we’re consulting on with the MAC.
“They have been asked to give us the real evidence about the value of EU migration to the UK because we know it has been hugely valuable.
“We want to make sure the changes we put in place are evidence-based.”
She insisted Scotland’s needs would be taken into account as part of the review and said she would expect the Scottish Government to contribute.
SNP MSP Joan McAlpine said: “Amber Rudd is all over the place on immigration and her harsh rhetoric has already put off skilled migrants. The damage has been done. These comments are too little, too late.
“What we need is a shift in substance. That must include a commitment to single market membership, including freedom of movement, and Scotland receiving the powers over immigration we were promised during the Brexit referendum.”