We need talent

Itisstrikingtonoteukgovernment proposals to end EU free

movement rights as soon as the UK leaves the bloc in 2019. New rules would require EU nationals to seek permission before taking up a job, making employers recruit locally first. The impact of such a policy on Scotland will be devastating and it is no wonder that a plethora of major organisations have lined up to roundly condemn these proposals.

There is clear evidence that Scotland’s future economic health, key services such as

the NHS, the strength of our key institutions eg universities and our future public finances depend on the maintenance of the ability of EU nationals to work and study freely in Scotland. While the amount of pensioners in Scotland is expected to rise by 28 per cent over the next 25 years, worker numbers are only increasing by one per cent. We therefore face an ageing population, but only marginal growth in the working age population. Scotland needs immigrants to balance this out and these reckless proposals will be absolutely devastating.

In the run-up to the EU referendum senior figures in the Leave campaign, such as Michael Gove, promised increased powers over immigration would come to Scotland should the UK vote to leave the EU. These pledges, like many others that were made in that campaign, have been, predictably, quickly forgotten.

Scotland desperately needs an immigration system that caters to the challenges we as a nation face, not one that shuts the door to much-needed talent.

ALEX ORR

Leamington Terrace, Edinburgh