The UK government has revealed their plan to curb legal migration after levels rose to unprecedented amounts. Home Secretary James Cleverly proposed a five-point plan to limit immigration, which he claimed was “far too high”. The changes include a rise in the minimum salary necessary for skilled foreign workers from £26,200 to £38,700. Cleverly explained that around 300,000 individuals who were qualified to come to the UK last year would no longer have the option to do so in the future.
This migration plan follows official figures from last month indicating that net migration increased to a record 745,000 in 2022, which put additional pressure on the government to bring the numbers down. The sharp increase represents a significant political challenge for the current Conservative government, who have been committed to reducing net migration since their election in 2010, as well as “taking back control” of the UK’s borders ever since the Brexit vote. With opinion polls currently favouring Labour, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to “do what is necessary” to decrease net migration.
In addition to the spike in salary requirements, the government also aims to ban health and care workers from bringing dependants to the UK, raise the minimum income for family visas, increase the annual fee foreign workers pay for utilising the NHS, end companies’ abilities to pay workers 20% less than the going rate for jobs on a shortage occupation list, and ask the government’s migration adviser to review the graduate visa route to prevent abuse. These changes are anticipated to take effect in the spring of next year.
Whilst some Conservative MPs have praised the reforms as “serious” and “credible” steps, the announcement has faced criticism from opposition parties. Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper stated that although net migration should indeed decrease, the proposals do not sufficiently connect immigration to training and fair pay requirements in the UK. Meanwhile, Unison general secretary Christina McAnea declared that the migration plan would spell “total disaster” for the NHS and social care sectors.
As the latest statistics show the health sector’s reliance on hiring foreign workers, and the industry is currently struggling to find adequate staff, it remains to be seen how effective these changes will be. Cleverly did acknowledge that some care workers might be discouraged from coming to the UK as they can no longer bring their families, but he remained optimistic that there would still be care workers who would be willing to work in the UK
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