Immigration Cap Set – But With Exceptions
(c) Sky News 2010, 20:35, Tuesday 23 November 2010
The number of migrant workers allowed to come to the UK from outside the EU will be slashed to 21,700 – plus some exceptions, the Home Secretary has said.
Theresa May began by telling MPs (MPSLTD.BO – news) : “We can’t go on like this.”
She (news) announced an official cap on immigration but in a concession to the business community, will allow them to transfer some staff from outside the UK.
The Home Secretary said the number of “tier one” people – highly-skilled workers looking for a job – will be cut by 13,000 to 1,000.
This will allow “exceptional people” such as sports stars and scientists to work in the country.
The number of tier two workers – those who already have job offers – will rise by 7,000.
Mrs may said the system of trying to attract the brightest and the best had not worked.
“At least 30% of tier one migrants work in low-skilled occupations such as stacking shelves, driving taxis or working as security guards and some don’t have a job at all.”
Overall, the number of people allowed to come and work in the UK from outside the EU will be cut from around 196,000 to the “tens of thousands”, Mrs may explained.
“We will have to take action across all routes to entry – work visas, student visas, family visas – and break the link between temporary routes and permanent settlement,” she told MPs.
It comes after David Cameron told Sky News the limit would be introduced in a “business-friendly way”.
He was reacting to concerns from companies who fear they will not be able to attract the staff they need and that the measure will harm the economy.
Mrs may made some concessions for businesses – such as allowing them to use “intra-company transfers” (ICTs) to bring existing staff over from abroad in roles paid more than £40,000.
But Peter Skyte from the Unite union said she had “spectacularly squandered” the chance to tackle the “misuse and abuse” of the scheme.
Speaking after the announcement, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, David Frost, said firms would be pleased to see the Government had listened to their fears.
“At the same time, businesses will hold the Home Secretary to her pledge to ensure that businesses will still have the flexibility to hire according to their needs,” he said.
“In a globalised economy, it is essential that multinationals can transfer senior employees to the UK and that business can fill skills gaps when required.”
The exemption of ICTs was also welcomed by the CBI. John Cridland, the incoming director general, said it “sends out the message that Britain really is open for business”.
Labour’s shadow home secretary Ed Balls responded to the announcement by saying the Government was in “retreat”.
“Over the course of the day different numbers for the level of the so-called immigration cap have been briefed to the media and it’s been revealed that thousands of border staff are to lose their jobs,” he said.
“The Tory immigration cap was always a pre-election gimmick, but the retreat announced by the Home Secretary means the cap is little more than a con.”
He also accused Mrs may of dithering over whether she would meet the 2015 target she originally set to slash the overall number of migrants.
“This is the fastest U-turn on a U-turn I’ve ever seen,” Mr Balls added.
Immigration minister Damien Green told Jeff Randall Live on Sky News that a “sensitive tough” approach was needed to ensure British businesses remained competitive.
He said: “Big global companies can continue to bring people in from overseas, but instead of bringing them in at the old level of only £24,000 salary, their salary has to be at least £40,000.
“A lot of big companies have said that will reduce the numbers but that will allow us to bring in the key senior managers we need.”
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Written by Tim on November 24, 2010 under Work From Home Jobs.
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