Ministers back points system as adviser goes

THE Government is to press ahead with an Australian-style immigration points system after effectively sacking a key adviser who described it as “soundbite” politics.

Prof Alan Manning, chair of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), revealed yesterday that the Home Office had declined his offer to stay on for a second three-year term and that he will step down next month.

It came as he launched MAC’S blueprint for a post-brexit immigration sys- tem for skilled workers, saying the Government’s desire for an Australian model was simply a “soundbite” for politicians to summarise their policy.

“You would make [the system] more complex, it’s not really clear what purpose it would serve,” he said. “A pointsbased system is just wrapping around a policy – it’s what’s inside the tin that is really important.”

His committee recommended that the Government should have a revamped version of the current system to allow in skilled migrants provided they had a job offer at a new lower salary threshold of £25,600.

However, a Downing Street spokesman said the Government had been clear a “firmer and fairer” points-based system would be introduced to welcome talent from around the world while reducing low-skilled migrants and bringing overall numbers down.

Government sources refused to say why they had not given Prof Manning a reason for rejecting his offer to stay on, made before the report’s release. The spokesman denied he had been “fired”.

MAC recommended the £30,000 salary threshold for most skilled migrants should be cut to £25,600 a year and to as low as £17,920 for “new entrants” aged under 26.

Migrants in higher paid sectors would face a higher threshold to prevent pay being undercut but those in public service occupations, such as nurses and teachers, would have lower thresholds to help combat shortages.

MAC said it expected the proposed changes to “reduce the levels of immigration, the size of the UK population and total GDP” once freedom of movement ended in 2021. However, it said there could be significant regional variations in the impact on GDP with areas more dependent on migrant labour, such as the East Midlands, the East of England and London, being hit harder.

The MAC’S report acknowledged a key Government desire to “bear down” on unskilled migrant labour, suggesting there could be tight restrictions.

These could be either time-limited stays in the UK without the right to permanent residence or only allowing migrants in to cover gaps in sectors with labour shortages such as social care, construction and social care.