Scotland issues fresh demand for control over migration as worker numbers coming from the EU nosedive
The Scottish Government has stepped up demands for control over immigration to be handed to Holyrood after a dramatic fall in the number of EU workers coming to the UK.
Scotland’s new migration minister Ben Macpherson warned that Westminster’s approach is now “increasingly detrimental” to Scotland after numbers sunk to a five-year low.
An estimated 101,000 more people from the bloc arrived than left in 2017, the lowest since 2013, official figures found.
As Scotland’s death rate continues to outstrip the birth rate, the country is more reliant on
immigration to support the economy than the rest of the UK and Mr Macpherson said the target to reduce this to “tens of thousands” is economically damaging. He welcomed the “temporary exemption” for doctors and nurses from the monthly Tier 2 immigration quota.
But he said: “We believe that the UK government should
now go a step further and remove its net migration target altogether. A failure to do so could cost Scotland £10 billion in GDP by 2040.
“There is now an overwhelming consensus on the need for a Scotland-specific approach to migration – a position supported across society, businesses, policy bodies, higher education and the academic community.”
Overall net migration – the difference between the numbers of people arriving and departing for at least 12 months and including noneu nationals – was around 282,000 in 2017.
Immigration figures published since the EU referendum have sparked claims of a “Brexodus” – though commentators pointed out more people are still coming to
live in the UK than departing. While net migration has fallen from record levels of around a third of a million in 2015 and 2016, it is still well above the government’s target of less than 100,000.
The latest Office for National Statistics migration report shows a fall in the number of EU citizens coming to the UK “looking for work”, which decreased by a third from 55,000 in 2016 to 37,000 last year.
Immigration minister Caroline Nokes said the statistics show “more of the people who are coming to the UK are coming for the reasons we would want – to take up a definite job or to study”.
She added: “More EU nationals continue to arrive than leave and as the ONS have made clear, net migration
has been broadly stable since late 2016. But while it is not unusual to see quarterly ups and downs, we know more needs to be done if we are to bring net migration down to sustainable levels.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the Government’s remains committed to bringing net migration down to “the tens of thousands.”
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: “Like the ‘hostile environment’, it’s clear to almost everyone except Theresa May that the net migration target should go.”
James Stewart, head of Brexit at KPMG UK, said: “Although net migration is on a slight upwards trajectory again what we’re hearing from the market is that sectors such as construction, food production, retail and hospitality are all struggling to find affordable labour, and costs are climbing.”
Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of Migration Watch UK, described the figures as “very disappointing”.
He said: “Migration from the EU is still adding 100,000 a year to our population and non-eu net migration is the highest level in a calendar year for 13 years. It’s time for the government to get serious about reducing immigration.
Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said the data suggests the UK is “still an attractive country, but its allure for EU migrants has declined considerably over the past couple of years”.