Separate Scots immigration after Brexit ‘not justified’
●Government-commissioned report rules out different system in Scotland
Demands from the SNP for Scotland to be given control of migration powers are not justified, a major report on European immigration to the UK has found.
A Uk-government commissioned report has ruled Scotland’s economic situation did not justify having a migration policy different to the rest of the UK.
The Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) study of immigration under EU free movement rules said Scotland’s economy did not need a “very different” migration regime to meet its labour requirements. The report said any changes by devolved administrations would be a “political decision”, not economic.
Scottish ministers say Scotland’s historic trend of population decline, particularly in rural areas, means some control over migration should be passed to Holyrood – a demand the UK government has resisted.
The SNP said the document was “deeply disappointing”.
The MAC report was also drawn into a separate row over its recommendation that citizens from European Economic Area (EEA) countries should lose the preferential
treatment they enjoy under free movement rules, despite acknowledging that postbrexit trade talks with the EU would likely involve discussion of special immigration status.
Business leaders also expressed disappointment the landmark report, which will have a major influence on the UK government’s migration policy after Brexit, recommended a series of new barriers for EEA migrants, warning it could lead to labour shortages and harm the economy.
The MAC study, considered the most comprehensive, evidence-based look at UK migration policy in recent years, found EU free movement hasn’t had a major impact on employment levels or wages in the UK. It concluded that EEA migration had “neither the large negative effects claimed by some, nor the benefits claimed by others”.
The report also said if “immigration is not to be part of the negotiations with the EU and the UK is deciding its migration system in isolation, we recommend moving to a system in which all immigration is managed with no preferential access to EU citizens”.
Other recommendations include scrapping the cap on Tier 2 skilled work visas and having no specific migration route for low-skilled work, with the possible exception of a seasonal agricultural workers’ scheme.
Scottish migration minister Ben Macpherson said: “With all of our population increase to come from migration over the next 25 years, migration is absolutely critical to Scotland’s future prosperity.
“However, the MAC report does little to consider Scotland’s needs and instead suggests that increasing the pension age would be a preferential approach to managing demographic change – a completely unsustainable position and one which we and many across Scotland would reject.
“This report will also be deeply disappointing to businesses and employers across Scotland who asked for a simple, low-cost approach to migration, which took into account the requirements of their sectors.”
He said the report’s proposals “completely ignore” sectors such as tourism, agriculture and forestry and “fails to address their major concerns about current and future access to workforce”.
Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said: “The SNP’S call for immigration to be devolved is therefore entirely unnecessary and could actually be detrimental.”
He called on the SNP to abandon calls for a separate immigration policy, saying it could require a “border at Berwick”.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said the immigration debate should be “fought Uk-wide” and warned against “cutting ourselves off and looking at this issue in isolation”.
Nick Marston, chairman of British Summer Fruits, reacted angrily to comments in the MAC report stating the UK berry industry was “small, low wage and low productivity in the wider UK context” and should not use a new seasonal workers’ scheme “to avoid the need for higher productivity” through greater use of technology. “Without access to seasonal workers ... our successful berry industry will cease to exist,” Mr Marston said.
The British Chambers of Commerce said the MAC’S recommendations “are unlikely to meet the needs of all employers” and warned “any sudden cut-off of EEA skills and labour would be concerning, if not disastrous, for firms across a wide range of regions and sectors”. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development warned many UK employers would face “significant challenges” in accessing skills and labour. Leaders in Brussels and London have urged each other to compromise on their Brexit stance on the eve of a major summit.
Prime Minister Theresa May will use today’s gathering in Salzburg, Austria, to make a direct pitch to fellow leaders to back her divisive Chequers proposals.
Brexit secretary Dominic Raab said it was time for the “compromises” made by the UK to be “matched on the EU side”.
In a sign that Brexit talks could go to the wire, the European Union is preparing for a final deal to be struck at an emergency summit in November, rather than the scheduled October meeting previously targeted by both sides in the negotiations.
UK and EU tell each other to try the art of compromise ahead of Salzburg summit
Paris Gourtsoyannis
The deal has to be finalised well in advance of the UK’S 29 March 2019 exit from the bloc so the parliaments in Westminster and Strasbourg can sign off on the agreement.
Tonight in Salzburg, Mrs May is expected to briefly set out her position over dinner before her 27 counterparts consider the situation in her absence the following day.
Ahead of the summit, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier briefed ministers from EU governments in Brussels yesterday on remaining issues in the divorce talks, including the Irish border, as well as the framework for the UK’S future relationship with the EU.
In an interview with journalists from newspapers across the EU, Mr Raab made clear the UK was looking for further movement from the EU on the Irish border.
He branded Mr Barnier’s “backstop” proposals, which would see Northern Ireland remain in the EU customs area, unworkable because they would create a border in the Irish Sea and fail to respect the constitutional integrity of the UK.
“What I’m not going to do is to say that I would refuse to entertain any further proposals that the EU comes up with, but they’ve got to be respecting the equities that we’ve set out,” he told correspondents from European newspapers, including Germany’s Die Welt, France’s Le Monde and the Irish Times.
Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar played down the prospect of Salzburg producing any shift in the EU’S negotiating stance.
Mr Varadkar told the Irish parliament: “I do not anticipate there will be any change to the EU’S position or any change to our negotiating guidelines.”
In a letter to EU leaders, European Council president Donald Tusk said they should discuss arrangements for the “final phase” of the Brexit talks “including the possibility of calling another European Council in November”.
He said EU leaders should also reconfirm the need for a “legally operational backstop” on Ireland to avoid a hard border.
“Unfortunately, a no-deal scenario is still quite possible,” Mr Tusk added. “But if we all act responsibly, we can avoid a catastrophe.”