UK home secretary breaks silence on migration as part of drive to soften exit terms
10 hours ago by: Helen Warrell and George Parker
Amber Rudd, the home secretary, promised business on Thursday that she would not close the door to European workers after Brexit, in a significant softening of the government’s tone on EU migration.
Ms Rudd, writing in the Financial Times, urged companies to put their case for a liberal migration regime and said she shared the desire of business “to continue to welcome those who help make the UK such a prosperous place to live”.
More than a year on from the referendum vote to leave the EU, Ms Rudd has finally broken her silence on the future immigration system, telling employers they will have up to three years of transition to adjust their recruitment practices once Britain has left the bloc in 2019.
“We must keep attracting the brightest and best migrants from around the world,” Ms Rudd wrote. “And we must implement a new immigration system after we leave the EU, which gives us control and that works in all of our interests.”
The home secretary has also commissioned extensive examination of the costs and benefits of European migrants to the British economy from the independent Migration Advisory Committee. Opinion: Amber Rudd A post-Brexit immigration system that works for all We can control migration from the EU while still attracting the best and brightest
Seamus Nevin, head of employment and skills at the Institute of Directors, described the consultation as “long overdue”.
Ms Rudd has spent the past year in the shadow of Theresa May, prime minister and her predecessor at the Home Office. She was criticised for taking a hard line on immigration, including suggesting at the Conservative party conference last year that companies reveal how many foreign workers they employed.
But colleagues say the pro-Remain minister has “found her real voice” since June’s general election when Mrs May lost her parliamentary majority.
Her intervention — timed during the prime minister’s holiday — is part of a drive by liberal ministers, including chancellor Philip Hammond, business secretary Greg Clark and de facto deputy prime minister Damian Green, to soften Brexit.
Mrs May and her former co-chiefs of staff, Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, sought minimal input from business leaders on migration and favoured relatively tough new border controls after Brexit. Now ministers expect free movement to continue during a transition period of up to three years after Brexit. Brexit: product of a benign period
The home secretary said “the public must have confidence in our ability to control migration”. But she has said she wants to encourage continued migration from EU nationals who work hard and pay tax in Britain. She is likely to recommend a work permit system for Europeans who want to enter the country after it has left the bloc.
For some time, business groups have expressed frustration that independent advisers had not been asked to look at any aspect of the post-Brexit migration system.
The Home Office confirmed that the Migration Advisory Committee will not report back until September 2018, just six months before Britain’s departure from the EU.
Corporate lobbyists are now concerned that this will be too late for any of the findings to usefully inform the government’s discussions of the future immigration regime.
Ed Davey, home affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said the government needed to explain why the migration advisers had not been commissioned directly after the referendum. Recommended Hard or soft Brexit? The six scenarios for Britain The EU citizens most at risk of being caught out by Brexit Eastern European migration to the UK in 5 charts Podcast series: Brexit unspun
“This will do nothing to reassure the hospitals that are already seeing record numbers of EU nurses leaving, or the companies struggling to recruit the staff they need,” Mr Davey said. “The NHS, businesses and universities that depend on European citizens need answers now, not in another 14 months’ time.”
The Financial Times understands that in addition to the consultation, there is to be a “cross-government programme” of engagement with business, industry, trade unions and educational institutions over the coming months.
A white paper on immigration and Brexit is expected to be published in the autumn, with a bill being brought forward in January. However, these documents are likely to enable the powers needed to bring EU migration within the remit of UK law, rather than setting out firm details of a new visa system for European nationals.