Immigrant numbers ‘will not fall suddenly post-Brexit’

IMMIGRATION WILL not suddenly fall once Britain leaves the European Union, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has suggested.

Ms Rudd said the Government was “against cliff edges” as she revealed businesses and others will be consulted on plans for a new immigration system in summer.

She confirmed that Ministers are considering plans to limit benefits for new immigrants but insisted it was one of a range of options and that no decisions have been made.

Ms Rudd said she was committed to working with businesses to ensure any new immigration system continues to enable them to thrive.

She appeared to back Brexit Secretary David Davis’s suggestion that it will take “years and years” to fill jobs in sectors such as hospitality and social care which rely heavily on migrants, and so the door would not “suddenly shut” after Brexit.

Asked about the comments, Ms Rudd said: “We’re against cliff edges, so as part of the consultation that we will be bringing out in the summer we will be asking them (firms) the best way to deliver that.”

Earlier this week, government sources insisted Mr Davis had not spoken out of turn when he used a visit to Estonia to say: “In the hospitality sector, hotels and restaurants, in the social care sector, working in agriculture, it will take time – it will be years and years before we get British citizens to do those jobs.

“Don’t expect just because we’re changing who makes the decision on the policy, the door will suddenly shut: it won’t.”

Sources said this would be in line with expected transitional arrangements after withdrawal. But Conservative Party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin appeared to try to downplay Mr Davis’s suggestion, saying his comments were taken out of context.