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EU citizens lose priority under post-Brexit immigration plans May says she will end EU immigrants' priority status after Brexit
(about 1 hour later)
EU citizens will no longer be given priority to live and work in Britain, in a radical overhaul of immigration policy after Brexit which Theresa May said “ends freedom of movement once and for all”.The prime minister said high-skilled staff who want to live and work in Britain will be given priority while low-skilled immigration will be curbed, though the final terms are expected to be subject to the Brexit negotiations.The announcement of the tough new system comes before a speech by the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, a harsh critic of the prime minister’s Brexit plans, which had been expected to dominate the third day of the Conservative party’s conference in Birmingham.“For the first time in decades, it will be this country that controls and chooses who we want to come here,” May said in a statement released overnight announcing the shake-up.“It will be a skills-based system where it is workers’ skills that matter, not where they come from. It will be a system that looks across the globe and attracts the people with the skills we need.“Crucially it will be fair to ordinary working people. For too long people have felt they have been ignored on immigration and that politicians have not taken their concerns seriously enough.”May said the new system would reduce low-skilled immigration and bring net migration down to “sustainable levels”, a coded reference to the tens of thousands manifesto pledge that Conservatives have thus far been unable to meet.The proposals follow a report from the government’s Migration Advisory Committee that recommended high-skilled workers are given priority over visa applications from low-skilled workers.The government has said it intends to publish a white paper next year and a bill the following year, meaning it is highly likely MPs will not be given a vote on the legislation before the UK leaves the EU in March.Downing Street said there would be “routes for short-stay business trips and tourists and for those who want to live and work for longer in the UK” as well as passport e-gates to make travelling faster for short-stay visitors.The government said in-country security checks would be carried out to make operations faster at passport control, a similar system of prior authorisation to the US.Applicants for working visas must meet a minimum salary threshold and have their families sponsored by their future employers.May did not rule out visa relaxations as part of future trading deals, saying the “ability of people from trading partners to deliver services and student exchange programmes will form part of future trade agreements”. EU citizens will no longer be given priority to live and work in Britain in a radical overhaul of immigration policy after Brexit, the prime minister has said, admitting it was possible Britons would have to apply for US-style visas to visit and work in Europe.
The announcement received a mixed response from businesses with a spokesman for the British Chambers of Commerce saying companies needed to recruit from a pool of people with a wide range of skills. Theresa May said the terms of the final deal with the EU could include mobility concessions, but insisted that would now be within the control of the British government.
Adam Marshall, director-general of the BCC, said: “Ministers must recognise that businesses in every corner of the UK are facing severe skills gaps at every level, and must be able to recruit great people from both here at home and from overseas. Immigration policy is not just about the ‘best and brightest’, but straightforward access to the skills needed to help grow our economy. The prime minister said the new policy “ends freedom of movement once and for all” and British tourists and workers would also be likely to face new restrictions travelling in the EU, depending on the final outcome of the Brexit talks.
“Controlling immigration is one thing – but the government should also take this golden opportunity to drop arbitrary migration caps and targets, which give many of the very people we need the sense that the UK is closed for business.” However she avoided discussion of the difficulties that UK citizens might face for future travel to Europe, when asked during a morning tour of broadcasters, saying it would be “part of the negotiations”.
She did rule out Britons having to apply for US Esta-style visa waiver forms to visit the EU after Brexit, saying she expected arrangements to be “reciprocal”.
Announcing the new policy overnight, the prime minister said highly skilled staff who want to live and work in Britain would be given priority, while low-skilled immigration would be curbed, though the final terms are expected to be subject to the Brexit negotiations.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, May said she was not ruling out mobility concessions as part of a future Brexit deal and that tourism and business travel were a component of the negotiations.
“In any trade deal countries do, there are normally parts of that which are about things like movement of business people, and so forth,” she said.
“But if we do a deal like that with the European Union, those elements will be open for trade deals with others as well.”
May said the government wanted British staff to fill the vacancies in areas such as hospitality and social care, which rely heavily on EU migrants, effectively ruling out an exemption for certain sectors.
“We’ll ensure we recognise the needs of the economy,” she said. “If you look at these low-skilled areas, we hope there will be the ability to train people here in the UK to take jobs.”
May said the government was already piloting a seasonal scheme for agricultural workers but said she was reticent to commit to exemptions for other sectors.
“I’m not saying there are suddenly going to be lots of sectors of the economy which are going to have exemptions, which means you no longer have an immigration policy,” she said. “This is reflecting what a lot of people in this country want.”
The tough new regime is likely to be popular with the Tory grassroots, many of whom have been been making their unhappiness felt during the conference over May’s post-Brexit trade proposals.The announcement comes before a speech by the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, a harsh critic of the prime minister’s Brexit plans, which had been expected to dominate the third day of the Conservative party conference in Birmingham.“For the first time in decades, it will be this country that controls and chooses who we want to come here,” May said in a statement released overnight announcing the shake-up.“For too long people have felt they have been ignored on immigration and that politicians have not taken their concerns seriously enough.”May said the new system would reduce low-skilled immigration and bring net migration down to “sustainable levels”, a coded reference to the “tens of thousands” manifesto pledge that Conservatives have thus far been unable to meet. “We retain our commitment to that target,” she told Today. The proposals follow a report from the government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which recommended that highly skilled workers were given priority over visa applications from low-skilled workers.
However, the MAC also said that offering concessions on immigration to the EU could be “potentially something of value to offer in the negotiations”, though it did not formally recommend this.
The government has said it intends to publish a white paper next year and a bill the following year, meaning it is highly likely MPs will not get to vote on the legislation before the UK leaves the EU in March.Downing Street said there would be “routes for short-stay business trips and tourists and for those who want to live and work for longer in the UK” as well as passport e-gates to make travelling faster for short-stay visitors.In-country security checks would be carried out to make operations faster at passport control, a similar system of prior authorisation to the US and applicants for working visas must meet a minimum salary threshold and have their families sponsored by their future employers.
The announcement received a mixed response from business leaders.
Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “Ministers must recognise that businesses in every corner of the UK are facing severe skills gaps at every level, and must be able to recruit great people from both here at home and from overseas.
“Immigration policy is not just about the ‘best and brightest’, but straightforward access to the skills needed to help grow our economy.”
The home secretary, Saijd Javid, will announce further details of the policy in a speech timetabled for noon on Tuesday, an hour before Johnson speaks.
Johnson, who has become May’s most vocal critic on Brexit, is expected to urge the party to focus on law and order, tax cuts and housebuilding as well as restating his opposition to May’s Chequers proposal.
May said she expected Johnson’s fringe meeting to be “lively”, but was focused elsewhere.
Asked how long she expected to remain Conservative leader, May told Today: “I’m in this for the long term, not just for the Brexit deal but actually for the domestic agenda we are setting out at this conference.”
Immigration and asylumImmigration and asylum
Conservative conference 2018
BrexitBrexit
Conservative conference 2018
European UnionEuropean Union
Foreign policyForeign policy
Theresa May
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