Migration policy ‘could cost £10bn’

Tory plans to cut net immigration in the UK to less than 100,000 a year could cost Scotland £10 billion a year in the long term, the finance secretary warned.

Derek Mackay hit out at Westminster’scommitmentto reduce the overall number of people coming to the UK, com- plaining that “the right-wing, Brexit madness of the hardliners in the Conservative Party sets the immigration policies of this country”.

Figures earlier this year showed net migration to the UK from the European Union has fallen to the lowest level in nearly five years, with an estimated 90,000 more long-term EU migrants arriving in Britain than left in the 12 months to September 2017.

But an Snp-commissioned report on Scotland’s economy highlighted the need for the country to attract more workers as part of efforts to deal with an ageing population.