Post-Brexit immigration policy recommendations ‘do not go far enough'

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAG) has recommended the previously touted wage threshold of £30,000 for workers from the European Union to stay in the UK longer term post-Brexit, is reduced to £25,600 a year.

And it appears cold on the idea of an Australian-style points system seemingly favoured by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which it believes would bring little added value when deciding which workers could enter the UK with a job offer.

Most starkly of all, it warned that, compared to freedom of movement within the EU, a new system using skill and salary thresholds could reduce future growth of both the UK economy and its population.

The MAG – which provides independent, evidence-based advice to the Government – also admitted it was almost impossible to find any relevant data to assess whether the current immigration system is working.

While business leaders in Cumbria have described the threshold reduction as a step in the right direction, they say it is still not enough.

Around a third of Cumbria’s 65,000-strong tourism workforce is from outside the UK, with the overwhelming majority from Europe.

And the average wage in the sector is £17,000 – £8,500 below the MAG’s revised threshold.

Tourism generates around £3 billion for the county’s economy each year, according to latest statistics.

Rob Johnston, chief executive of Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, said businesses from across a wide of sectors, not just tourism, were looking for a flexible immigration system that provided access to the staff they need without delays or red tape.

“The reduction in the salary threshold is a step in the right direction but it doesn’t go far enough,” he said.

“Cumbria’s food processing and hospitality businesses rely heavily on EU migrants and many of their staff earn less than the proposed salary threshold of £25,600 a year.

“The Government hopes that, by restricting the supply of migrants, they will encourage employers to recruit and train British workers.

“You can’t do that in the Lake District because there is no local workforce to recruit from – the people just aren’t there.

“We’ve spoken to hotels who say they might have to close if the supply of migrants dries up. That remains a major concern.”

A spokesman for Cumbria Tourism said: "Today’s report is a step in the right direction but it does not go far enough for either our tourism industry or the wider Cumbrian economy.

"The county has a small and super ageing resident population and European workers have long been a vital part of our employment portfolio, helping not only to fill vacancies but also to deliver world class customer service."

The spokesman added that the organisation had been working behind the scenes to bring together businesses and politicians to talk about immigration following the referendum.

He added: "We will continue to work alongside organisations such as UKinbound, the Tourism Alliance, our own MPs and wider government as we lobby on behalf of our member businesses.

"We welcome the mention in the proposal of potential special case recognition for remote areas with unique recruitment challenges, something we have called for from the start, and are seeking further information about what this concept could mean for Cumbria."

Tourism trade association UKinbound – which has more than 400 members – said while some of the recommendations were welcome, the tourism industry “will have to adjust significantly” under a new system.

Echoing others, its chief executive Joss Croft said the wage threshold would not solve the industry’s skills shortage headache, and said the exclusion of part time workers – which the sector is heavily reliant one – would also be detrimental.

And while he said the recommendation for a visa that targets remote parts of the country, such as Cumbria, was a welcome step, he also criticised the absence of foreign language skills from any future points-based system.

“The inbound tourism industry contributed nearly £23 billion to the UK economy last year and UK based tour operators and other parts of the industry rely heavily on their non-UK employees to conduct negotiations in foreign languages and liaise with our international visitors – our competitors offer world class service and so should we.

“Our members simply cannot find enough British nationals with these skills in the UK and any solution through additional language education for UK nationals may come too late for some businesses.”

Another long-term critic of the wage threshold, Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, said the reduced threshold would “still serve as a wrecking ball to the hospitality sector here in the Lake District”.

“Of course we want to see more people who were brought up locally working in The Lakes – but with more than 20,000 non-UK staff working in the Lake District hospitality industry and only around 500 people unemployed in the South Lakes, the maths simply does not add up,” he said.

“The Government need to take their fingers out of their ears, get in the real world and start working far more pro-actively with hospitality leaders to try and find a solution which does not end up throwing the Lake District tourism sector under a bus.”

In its 278-page report, the MAG advises against any regional variation in the thresholds, saying it could do more harm than good, and does not recommend lowering salary thresholds for jobs on the Shortage Occupation List.

“A shortage is generally an indication that wages are below market-clearing levels so that allowing these jobs to pay lower salaries could have the effect of perpetuating shortage,” the report says.

It has recommended the Government continues with lower salary thresholds for teachers and NHS workers, while keeping it higher for higher paid occupations.

And it also suggests lowering the threshold for EU workers under 26 years of age by 30 per cent – meaning that in some occupations they would only need to earn £17,920 and should be allowed to remain on the rate for up to five years.

It appears that the Government has not been impressed by the MAG’s findings.

At the launch of the report, its chairman Professor Alan Manning revealed ministers had turned down his application to serve a second term in the post.

Prof Manning – who said he had “no idea” what the Government would make of the findings – will step down next month while the Government seeks a replacement.