Benefits for migrants may
STATE benefits for migrants could be axed as the Government plans the biggest shake-up of immigration control in a generation.
A radical set of post-Brexit proposals being considered by Home Secretary Amber Rudd could also include multi-year visas with a time limit for incomers who fill skill gaps in Britain.
The tough new stance comes as the Government looks to fulfil its election pledge to bring net migration down to less than 100,000 a year.
Ms Rudd confirmed the Government is “considering a range of options” and did not rule out reports that it will introduce the harsher measures. However, there were concerns when Ms Rudd appeared to suggest that it could take “years and years” to bring immigration down significantly.
The plans have emerged just days after the Daily Express revealed that mass EU migration costs the taxpayer £30billion a year and is putting the state pension at risk.
The plans being discussed by senior ministers could also see the independent Migration Advisory Committee advising the Government on how many visas should be issued to take the political sting out of the issue.
Under the proposals new arrivals could be given five-year working visas if they have a job but be banned from claiming any benefits during that time. The committee would decide how many visas need to be issued for workers in key industries such as software engineering, health and social care, farming and hospitality, which are all heavily reliant on immigrants.
The Prime Minister reportedly ordered ministers to make preparations for a new system at a meeting of the Cabinet’s Brexit committee on Thursday.
According to reports, Mrs May will also attempt to guarantee the rights of all EU nationals who are resident in the UK on the day she triggers Article 50 to begin exit negotiations, if she can get a similar agreement for millions of British expats in Europe.
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 told ITV’s Peston On Sunday: “We’re against cliff edges, so as part of the consultation we will be bringing out in the summer we will be asking firms the best way to deliver that.”
Explosive
Earlier this week, Government sources insisted Mr Davis had not spoken out of turn when he used a visit to Estonia, part of the EU, 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.”
The new proposals have come just before an explosive documentary by BBC’s Panorama which will be broadcast tonight. It reveals the deep divisions that mass immigration is causing in Slough, Berks – dubbed Immigration Town.
In it, residents expressed their concerns about how mass immigration is changing the face of their home town where the British white population has dropped from 69,000 in 2001 to 48,000 in 2011.
A man called Bernie, who is leaving with his wife Ann to move to Norfolk, said: “I’m not worried about the diversity of people here. It’s simply there are too many.”
He later adds: “What I am against is the uncontrolled immigration, the masses of people coming into the country now, and this country has only got so much resources.” Another man called Keith noted: “I was born in Slough and I am a minority in my own little world.”
In a separate development, Ms Rudd hit out at claims that the Government has gone back on its word over taking in Syrian refugee children from Europe.
Ms Rudd said: “Unfortunately, fake news is settling out there. The fact is, we took in 8,000 children last year to this country and settled them. Three thousand arrived unaccompanied and illegally and have been settled here. These numbers are large.”
Ms Rudd denied Lord Dubs, who introduced an amendment to take in lone children from France and Italy, and others had been misled.
She said: “What happened in Calais is the number of children doubled over three weeks. How did that double? Because traffickers brought them there and the age of children began to fall because we said we would take the youngest children first.
“At the end of last year, in order to help with the Calais clearance, we did a one-off acceptance of 900 children.”