Get tough, but don’t forget the workers
IT MADE for a testy moment on the radio. Home Secretary Priti Patel, below, was on my breakfast show, proudly extolling the virtues of the new immigration system announced last week, with some its key cornerstones being that as of January next year, all migrants must have a job paying a minimum of £25,600 plus a certain level of qualifications and be able to speak English.
“It occurs to me that under this policy, my late father’s family would not have been allowed into the country and, in fact, neither would yours, would they Home Secretary,” I said to her. Ms Patel, whose parents came from Uganda, tried to bat it back and talked about a points-based system and asylum seekers policies.
So I went again. And finally, put this to her: “It’s very interesting isn’t, it? I wouldn’t be in my studio and you wouldn’t be Home Secretary, holding one of the biggest offices in the land, under your system.” Finally she replied, saying: “This isn’t about my background or my parents.”
These measures are the biggest shake-up to our border rules since the UK joined the then Common Market nearly 50 years ago. And Lord knows they needed shaking up, but when you study the long list of groups opposing the plans, could it be more of a balls-up than shake-up?
For example, the British Chambers of Commerce said the processes had to be radically simplified or smallersized businesses will not be able to cope. The Institute of Directors said it could damage the UK’S economic dynamism. The Freight Transport Association claimed it will create a shortage of HGV drivers. The British Meat Processors Association said it will make it hard to recruit the necessary staff and travel industry association Abta reported the same concerns. Many unions opposed it – hardly surprising – but the weight of opposition from those business groups certainly is, even allowing for the valid claim they are only moaning as they fear an end to unlimited cheap labour.
Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not saying that we didn’t need to reform our
■ policy on immigration, we damned well did. Since Tony Blair’s calamitous decision to throw open the doors to Eastern Europeans after the EU expansion far earlier than he needed and without the required planning and forethought, many parts of the country and many trades have never fully recovered. No blame should be directed at those who came here, it’s only human nature and once again from personal experience, it ill-behoves me to suggest otherwise.
But where was the planning for the extra houses, schools and hospitals new arrivals would need? Why wasn’t the road network expanded? And whose idea was it to cut bus routes at the same time as hundreds of thousands of people moved in?
MPS of successive governments, Labour, Tory and even the Libdems, let us and the country down – as well as those who came here and were confronted by this raft of inactivity.
Getting it right was always going to be tough, but this new and radical system will only work if it can move swiftly when problems arise.
Take the lorry drivers as an example. If a shortage occurs the system needs to be adapted almost overnight. Many NHS staff and care workers don’t earn anything like that minimum required salary so you see the need for flexibility.
Without doubt, many who voted Brexit did so because of the UK’S failed immigration policy and our seemingly porous borders.
The mantra “taking back control of our borders” hit home up and down the land. But it is no exaggeration to say much of the glorious past of this great country, and a great deal of its current economic heft, has been built on the backs of those who chose to work here. In many cases, we’ve benefited hugely from the arrival of young and committed workers.
That was the point I was trying to make to Ms Patel – only time will tell if the point got home.