Sir Keir ready to let in more foreign workers to fill vacancies
A LABOUR government would relax visa immigration rules in the short term to help ‘ drive growth’, Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday.
In a speech to the Confederation of British Industry, the Labour leader said the UK had to end its ‘immigration dependency’ in the long term – and that firms would be need to do more to train British workers.
But he signalled a relaxation of visa rules in the short term, saying Labour were ‘not going to hold business back’ if employers need ‘talent from abroad’.
And he refused to say whether Labour would cut overall immigration levels, saying he did not want to be tied to ‘arbitrary’ numbers.
Sir Keir told business leaders that ‘the days when low pay and cheap labour are part of the British way on growth must end’.
He dropped an earlier pledge to restore freedom of movement with the EU but said Labour would be ‘pragmatic’ in the face of business demands to allow in more foreign workers to fill job vacancies.
Last month the CBI said three-quarters of firms had struggled to find British staff to fill some roles in the past 12 months. ‘I will be pragmatic,’ Sir Keir said. ‘I don’t want a repeat of what happened last year with HGV drivers – that is not good for growth.’
Asked whether his plan would lower immigration, he replied: ‘If what is driving the numbers is our skills failure then we need to address the skills issue rather than talking about arbitrary numbers.
‘And that does mean, if we get this right, that immigration will go down in some of those areas that are overly reliant on immigration.’
Tory MP Tom Hunt said: ‘The truth is Keir Starmer is all over the place on immigration. Last year, he was pressuring the Government to grant 100,000 short-term visas to foreign HGV drivers.
‘The year before he was standing on a leadership platform of bringing back free movement. Now he expects us to believe he wants controlled immigration. You can’t trust a word he says on immigration – it’s all smoke and mirrors.’
Yesterday Sir Keir vowed not to take the UK back into the single market but said Brexit had to work. ‘The deal the Government has got us is not working well,’ he said. ‘It’s holding business back, it’s holding growth back.’
‘The days of low pay are gone’