Clap then slap for our carers
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WHEN it comes to pre-election promises, you break them at your peril.
Just ask the Lib Dems – they never recovered from Nick Clegg’s aboutturn on university tuition fees.
But those rules are for normal times. That is why the Government must urgently review the Immigration Bill that is before parliament.
In its defence, the Government is honouring the pledge it gave at the December election that it would implement an Australian-style points-based immigration system. But that was then – this is now. And they must realise the world is a radically different place thanks to Covid-19.
If the coronavirus crisis has achieved one thing, it is that we now have a far greater appreciation of our essential workers – folk who are often referred to as “low-skilled”.
Even if stacking shelves or cleaning floors doesn’t require a degree, those roles are vital to how we live.
That is why having to earn £26,400 a year to get the maximum points to qualify under the system now looks wildly out of touch.
Someone’s value to society cannot be determined by their salary.
Under these proposals, legions of those we applaud each Thursday night would never have been allowed to set foot in this country.
A government cannot be seen to clap them one day and slap them in the face the next.
It is not just the NHS that will suffer under the new laws – the care sector will be hit again.
Conservative MP and former immigration minister Caroline Nokes was right when she likened them to the “Cinderella service, forgotten once more”.
There are about 110,000 unfilled jobs in the care sector, and although the Government boasts that one of the new system’s biggest selling points is that it can be easily and swiftly altered to allow for shortfalls in any industry, there could scarcely be a worse time than now to see if it works here. The Government would point to the fact it smashed through that famous “Red Wall” at the election because voters in those areas had seen enough of local jobs going to foreigners.
But those very same voters from Bolsover to Clwyd are among those cheering the loudest each week for our carers and frontline workers. A poll out this month showed that more than half of Britons’ attitude to foreign-born workers has softened and more than 60% oppose salary thresholds for health and care staff. History is littered with examples of prime ministers and leaders failing to heed the national mood. Being seen to go after those who look after us would be a colossal error.