Migrant plans delayed over divisions in May’s Cabinet
Shambles as cynical Labour confidence vote is refused time in Parliament
A CABINET split over how many migrants to allow into Britain after Brexit has delayed the publication of plans on the policy until next year.
Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark are pushing for a proposed minimum salary for people coming to the UK to be reduced or be exempt for certain jobs.
Ministers had promised to set out by the end of this week the rules for EU migrants coming to Britain when freedom of movement ends after Brexit.
But last night it emerged the longawaited immigration White Paper faces being pushed back to January as ministers cannot agree on the policy.
Whitehall sources said Cabinet divisions centred on a proposal that skilled migrants will have to earn at least £30,000 before being allowed in on five-year visas.
Mr Hammond and Mr Clark have raised concerns about extending the salary threshold, which applies to non-EU migrants, to people from the EU.
It is understood they want the earnings figure to be lowered or exempt in certain sectors. Last night a Whitehall source said: ‘The £30,000 figure has not been nailed down, which is why the White Paper might not be this week.
‘We are still aiming to publish on Wednesday but that is looking unlikely.’
Under the plans, low-skilled workers will only be allowed to apply for one-year visas. Once they expire, they will have to leave Britain and can only return after a ‘cooling off period’.
The immigration paper has now been delayed for more than a year as ministers have repeatedly failed to agree.
Theresa May has long clashed with some of her ministers over her commitment to the target of cutting net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’. Last month, figures showed that net migration from the EU to the UK is at a six-year low.
In the first six months of 2018, there were 74,000 more EU citizens coming to the UK than people leaving for other EU countries.
The new immigration system will not start until after the Brexit transition period ends in December 2020.
A CYNICAL Labour bid to embarrass Theresa May backfired last night.
On a shambolic day for Labour, Jeremy Corbyn tabled a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister – minutes after shadow chancellor John McDonnell ruled out the idea.
Mrs May stalked out of the Commons chamber moments later. The non-binding vote was designed to exploit Tory divisions over Brexit and send Mrs May into Christmas on the back of a Commons humiliation. But it stopped short of a formal no-confidence vote in the Government which could result in a general election – the outcome Mr Corbyn claims to want.
Last night it was denied Parliamentary time by the Government. It will only now happen if Labour turn it into a formal vote of no confidence in the Government.
In any event, Mr Corbyn’s theatrics appeared to have had a galvanising effect on warring Tory MPs, who staged their own vote of no confidence in the PM’s leadership just last week.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG) which led last week’s attempted coup, yesterday told the PM he now accepts the 200-117 vote in her favour and backs her.
An ERG source said the 80strong group ‘will of course be voting with the Government on this meaningless Labour motion’. And former Brexit minister Steve Baker, who submitted a vote of no confidence in Mrs May last month, said: ‘Eurosceptic Conservatives are clear that we accept the democratic decision of our party to have confidence in Theresa May as PM. We will vote against Labour in any confidence motion.’
Democratic Unionist Party deputy leader Nigel Dodds also indicated that his party would not back the Labour stunt. He said: ‘We are not interested in the playacting of the Labour Party.’
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon mocked Mr Corbyn for failing to table a binding motion of no confidence in the Government.
She said: ‘Labour tabling a motion just in the PM rather than in the entire Government begs the question, which Tory do they want to see as PM?’
But, with the PM having no majority in parliament and facing a wave of criticism over Brexit, a no confidence vote would have been potentially dangerous as only a handful of Tories would have had to rebel for her to lose.
One Cabinet source had warned a vote could prove hazardous, stressing: ‘It’s great to have assurances from the ERG, but can she count on them?
‘And even if she can, it only takes a dozen or so disaffected MPs and she’s in trouble.’
Yesterday’s events unfolded as Mrs May prepared to address MPs on the future of her Brexit deal in the wake of last week’s Brussels summit, from which she emerged virtually empty-handed.
At 3pm Labour briefed that Mr Corbyn would call for a confidence vote if Mrs May failed to announce that a meaningful vote on the Brexit deal would take place ‘promptly’.
The announcement came as the party received a copy of Mrs May’s statement in which she announced that the vote, delayed from last week, would now take place in the week beginning January 14.
In his response to Mrs May in the Commons, Mr Corbyn made no mention of the no confidence vote plan and appeared to have abandoned it. Mr McDonnell then told Channel 5 News that the idea had been scrapped because ‘we got what we wanted’.
But minutes later, Mr Corbyn told MPs Labour would press for a vote after all. Raising a point of order in the Commons, Mr Corbyn said: ‘The Prime Minister has refused to ensure a vote took place on the date she agreed, she refuses to allow a vote to take place this week and is now, I assume, thinking the vote will be on January 14 – almost a month away. This is unacceptable in any way whatsoever.’
Mrs May sat with a defiant grimace on her face and listened to the Labour leader before stalking out of the Commons chamber.
‘Motion is meaningless’