THE NUMBER of skilled workers from outside the European Union allowed into Britain should be cut by up to a quarter, a body set up to advise on the government’s planned immigration cap said yesterday.
The Migration Advisory Committee, charged with setting limits for skilled migrants under an Australian-style points system, said the number of approved visas had to fall to between 37,400 and 43,700 from 50,000 granted in 2009.
The plans received a mixed response from businesses concerned that the measures could hurt Britain’s competitive edge. Businesses argue the figure was depressed last year because of the global economic downturn. The advisory group’s chairman, Professor David Metcalf, told reporters the limits were tougher than a temporary cap introduced in the summer to stop a surge of applications ahead of the permanent cap in April 2011.
The group said the cuts were the first step in fulfilling the Conservative-led coalition government’s pledge to bring down levels of net migration, that ballooned under the last Labour government, to provide more jobs for British citizens.
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to reduce overall inflows from 196,000 last year to “the tens of thousands” by 2015, the life of the current parliament.
Employers’ group the CBI described the report as “a thoughtful contribution to the debate”, but said international staff transfers must be exempted from the final cap figure – a measure Cameron has already informally agreed to.
The British Chambers of Commerce said any cap needed to be flexible, allowing global talent to flow, while education body, Universities UK, said the plans would damage the ability to recruit top talent.
Julia Onslow-Cole, head of global immigration at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said a cut of 25 per cent was too high and would have a negative impact on business.
“More than ever, we do need non-EU migrants coming to the UK and that is because we are very lucky that London is a major global hub and we will lose our position in a global economy if we don’t have a free flow of migrants,” she said.
The government said it would make its decision on the final figure in due course and that steps were being taken to ensure the cap did not damage the British economy.
The report also said that curbing skilled working visas would contribute only a 20 per cent reduction to the government’s overall immigration target.
The remaining and much larger 80 per cent cut, still to be thrashed out, would need to come from cuts in the numbers of students coming from outside the EU and in relatives joining their families in Britain.
