End low-skilled EU migration, ministers told
MINISTERS have been urged to end low-skilled migration and preferential treatment for EU workers after Brexit, and ensure all migrants earn more than £30,000, according to a report.
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said EU workers should compete with others worldwide and called for an end to freedom of movement, but said there should be no cap on medium and highly skilled migrants.
Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, welcomed the recommendations, which will inform the Government’s new immigration policy, due later this year.
The Cabinet will discuss the plans on Monday, sources told The Daily Telegraph.
The report – commissioned by the Government – stated that as long as the Prime Minister did not intend to use immigration as a bargaining chip in EU negotiations a new system should be built on the notion that nationality should have no impact on whether someone can live and work in the UK.
Low-skilled migration should end but the Tier 2 visa route should be opened to those in medium-skilled jobs with the cap on numbers removed.
Prof Alan Manning, the MAC chairman, said this would not make the Government’s vow to cut net migration to the tens of thousands impossible, but he warned the pledge was a political choice not an immigration policy.
The report acknowledged that the decision to end low-skilled migration because of a lack of benefit to the UK economy would have some negative short-term impacts but this could be offset by paying British workers more or using existing staff more efficiently.
Social care would be particularly badly affected by the change, the report concluded, but experts said employers in this sector were over-reliant on migrant labour and must pay better wages and provide better terms of employment to encourage British nationals to fill jobs. Domestic staff, food and drink industry workers, warehouse staff, chefs and care workers would be the worst affected, the MAC said, but it ruled out regional schemes or special treatment for some industries.
Business leaders said prices could increase as a result.
A scheme for EU agricultural workers would be the only exception to the rules, but employers would have to pay a premium to hire them.
Any EU migration policy aimed at UK nationals would be expected to mirror Britain’s proposals, which could make it harder for people wanting to live and work on the continent.
The most obvious gap in the Government’s post-brexit policy planning is what to do about immigration when free movement comes to an end after transition in 2021. The rights of EU citizens already here will be enshrined in the withdrawal agreement, assuming there is one. But the Government has been slow to come forward with replacement proposals, which is surprising given that high levels of immigration were a driving force behind the Brexit vote in parts of the country.
Ministers said they were waiting to see the outcome of an inquiry by the Migration Advisory Council (MAC) which reported yesterday. However, this leaves us none the wiser. The MAC makes the point that the development of the migration regime depends on political decisions linked to Brexit still to be taken.
As an independent nation in control of its own borders, Britain should set a policy that allows for migration from anywhere in the world providing certain criteria are met. This is the system adopted by most countries. However, the MAC acknowledges that the UK “may be able to trade off some preferential access for EU citizens to the UK in return for benefits in other areas of the negotiations, such as trade”. This is something Brexiteers fear will happen in the final stages of the negotiations when compromises will be made.
People will find it hard to understand if, after all the agonies of Brexit, we end up with little change in immigration or with EU citizens having more rights not just than non-eu migrants but British nationals as well. The MAC recommends moving to a system in which all migration is managed, with no preferential access to EU citizens.
This reflects the view of Theresa May who has been adamant that free movement will end. However, the MAC has given her some cover to use labour rights as a bargaining chip to secure a Brexit deal. It points out that the principle of free movement is in itself not problematic and was not an issue in British politics until the accession of the eastern European nations in 2004.
The expansion of the EU brought to the fore the problem of leaving migration decisions solely to migrants, with no say for the resident population over the preferred level and mix. The Government must ensure that these concerns are properly addressed if taking back control of our borders is to be more than an empty slogan.