Businesses take a one-sided view of immigration
SIR – Carolyn Fairbairn, the directorgeneral of the CBI (Comment, May 15), refers to its general election business manifesto, which includes a call for “a migration system that supports growth” to help Britain become “the most competitive and prosperous economy in the world”.
The massive levels of principally low-skilled EU immigration in recent years have certainly added to business and GDP growth, but far less to growth in GDP per capita. The CBI should understand that it is growth in GDP per capita which makes the working people of Britain prosperous, and not growth in GDP per se. Roger Kendrick
Newton Abbot, Devon
SIR – The Conservatives must be careful about their immigration policy.
Without immigration, there would have been no Indian or Chinese restaurants, no kebab restaurants and no pizza joints, and an absence of many other additions to our cultural heritage. Nick Moulton-thomas
Seeb, Muscat, Oman
SIR – Judith Woods (Comment, May 12) observes that modern life relies on help from cleaners, gardeners and child-minders who mostly come from abroad. She wonders if this supply of labour will continue after Brexit.
A few years ago I was minded to employ a cleaner. The only way to do that legally, if not using an agency, is to register as an employer. There is no longer a category of employer that caters for domestic help only, so one has to register as a full-blown business.
The bureaucracy is stifling. After I had jumped through all the hoops, my potential cleaner then decided she didn’t want the job, since I would be deducting both tax and National Insurance.
Given my difficulties, I have no doubt that cleaners, child-minders and so on are often being employed outside the system, to the detriment of the tax-paying public. Theresa May has spoken about introducing additional rights for the quasi-self-employed, such as Uber and Deliveroo workers. This is the wrong approach. Instead of making employment more onerous for the employer, we need to create a system that legitimises casual work. By removing incentives for an employer to connive in the black economy, the incidence of avoidance would surely be greatly reduced. Andy Bradshaw
Guildford, Surrey