Will the government curb EU low skilled labour post Brexit?

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  • Proposals aimed at cutting the numbers of low-skilled migrants from Europe following Brexit have been disclosed in a leaked Home Office paper.

    The document, obtained by The Guardian, suggests free movement will end upon exit in March 2019 and the UK will adopt a "more selective approach" based on the UK's economic and social needs.

    Access to labour in industries without shortages may be curbed, it suggests.
    BBC article

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    All the "leaked" documents are on The Guardian's site, which I will have a look at later. If the report is true, it is pleasing news, although I would be tougher and curb all foreign low skill labour. All these jobs should go to our own people and no one else.

    Do we believe the government is going to do this, or is this just a appeasement exercise to keep hard-line Brexiteer Conservative MPs on May's side for now?

  • Britain will end the free movement of labour immediately after Brexit and introduce restrictions to deter all but highly-skilled EU workers under detailed proposals set out in a Home Office document leaked to the Guardian.

    The 82-page paper, marked as extremely sensitive and dated August 2017, sets out for the first time how Britain intends to approach the politically charged issue of immigration, dramatically refocusing policy to put British workers first.

    “Put plainly, this means that, to be considered valuable to the country as a whole, immigration should benefit not just the migrants themselves but also make existing residents better off,” the paper says.


    It proposes measures to drive down the number of lower-skilled EU migrants – offering them residency for a maximum of only two years, in a document likely to cheer hardliners in the Tory party.


    Those in “high-skilled occupations” will be granted permits to work for a longer period of three to five years.
    The document also describes a phased introduction to a new immigration system that ends the right to settle in Britain for most European migrants – and places tough new restrictions on their rights to bring in family members.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/s…r-eu-immigrants

    Good news. This is definitely the way to go if we are to get back control of our borders.

  • I don't understand the bit about high skilled workers from the EU? Surely what we want to do is control the flow of immigration so we can attract skilled people worldwide and not take in all and sundry?? We can already get highly skilled EU people!

  • I don't understand the bit about high skilled workers from the EU? Surely what we want to do is control the flow of immigration so we can attract skilled people worldwide and not take in all and sundry?? We can already get highly skilled EU people!

    I think the point is that we can choose who we want to come here depending on our needs and market forces . We don't want thousands of fruit pickers or even engineers if there are no vacancies for them to fill.

    What these moves will do is help to equalise the qualifications that EU migrants will need with those which already apply to non EU migrants. EU migrants will no longer simply be waved through.

  • I think the point is that we can choose who we want to come here depending on our needs and market forces . We don't want thousands of fruit pickers or even engineers if there are no vacancies for them to fill.

    Exactly. I don't have an issue with seasonal workers from Eastern Europe coming here on work permits and then leaving at the end of the season. It's the chancers that come here with no intention of ever going back to their own country. Our services and infrastructure are groaning under the strain. You can't have a third of a million permanent migrants every year when we still have 1.5 million unemployed and even more on part time or zero hours contracts.

    There is also the looming automation of farming: The revolution in industry that removed millions of mundane low paid jobs has yet to really impact agriculture. Self driving tractors have already debuted and I'm sure robot fruit pickers are just around the corner.

  • We have enough of our own to fill the unskilled jobs no need to bring in from overseas.

    Exactly, Ron. No need at all for any low skilled workers at all.

    Exactly. I don't have an issue with seasonal workers from Eastern Europe coming here on work permits and then leaving at the end of the season. It's the chancers that come here with no intention of ever going back to their own country

    Go to Norfolk, Heero. I was last there in 2012. They don't go home after the fruit/veg picking.

    Our services and infrastructure are groaning under the strain. You can't have a third of a million permanent migrants every year when we still have 1.5 million unemployed and even more on part time or zero hours contracts.

    Exactly and its in places where there are large amount of EU low skilled labour like Norfolk and the south west where unemployment is high.

    The problem is, many of these EU workers are being exploited and get under minimum wage and no proper benefits, which is why companies are keen to employ them.

    There is also the looming automation of farming: The revolution in industry that removed millions of mundane low paid jobs has yet to really impact agriculture. Self driving tractors have already debuted and I'm sure robot fruit pickers are just around the corner.

    Interesting. I'll investigate. Thanks for another thread idea.:thumbup:

    As a sidenote, of course farming did have the same revolution as other industries, the fact that we have tractors is evidence of that, as a single tractor would remove dozens of jobs.

    What you are talking about is the second wave of this change with AI and robots.

  • What you are talking about is the second wave of this change with AI and robots.

    Indeed. Yes you're right. The mechanisation of farming over the last two centuries did away with many jobs. Horses came in to do the work of many and were subsequently usurped by tractors, combined harvesters and the like making all the horse supporting jobs vanish. The next wave of automation will hit the remaing farming jobs so it's not impossible to think of one man running the entire farm from his desk. No need for any extra labour, seasonal or not.

  • The next wave of automation will hit the remaing farming jobs so it's not impossible to think of one man running the entire farm from his desk. No need for any extra labour, seasonal or not.

    My dad's family came from generations of Essex peasants who were basically farm workers and labourers. Their time was spent between Essex and Kent. They would work in Essex for the winter veg and in Kent for the hops and fruit picking in the summer. All that changed with mechanisation. AI will bring about an even greater change than that.

    The next wave of automation will hit the remaing farming jobs so it's not impossible to think of one man running the entire farm from his desk. No need for any extra labour, seasonal or not.

    Take it one step further. The person doesn't need to be on the farm, he could be sitting in his Tesco's office managing several farms at once, or monitoring the vast greenhouses in somewhere like Spain or Ghana who supply Tesco with food. A lot of things will change...

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