MP, Labour's Shadow Home
Secretary, responding to today’s ONS migration figures
and Home Office visa and asylum statistics, said:
"Today’s net migration statistics, including a 65 per cent
increase in net migration for work, show the scale of utter Tory
failure on immigration, asylum, and the economy.
“These figures are driven by a 54 per cent increase in work visas
and a 156 per cent increase in health and social care visas which
prove the Conservatives’ abysmal record on skills, training and
workforce planning, as they have run our economy into the ground.
They are still failing to make changes Labour has called for to
end the 20 per cent wage discount in the immigration system and
to link it to training requirements.
“The Tories have broken the asylum system with the number of
asylum seekers in hotels now at a record high of 56,000 -
over 10,000 more than when promised to end hotel use
- and costing almost £3 billion a year. Once again, the
British taxpayer is footing the bill for the Conservatives’
chaos.
"Labour would reform the points-based system to boost training,
better link it to the needs of our economy and we would end hotel
use and clear the asylum backlog through fast-track systems, more
caseworkers and a new returns unit. The Tories have no grip on
immigration and asylum and no plan for the economy."
Ends
Notes:
Labour’s reforms to the points-based system would:
- Scrap the 20 per cent wage discount on the salaries
businesses are required to pay for jobs on the shortage list.
- Introduce new training plans and requirements for key
occupations on the Shortage Occupation List - including Labour’s
plan for more doctors and nurses and Fair Pay Agreements for
social care.
- Reform of apprenticeship levy to support upskilling and
skilling in key shortage areas including IT and engineering.
- Limit access to the immigration system for employers who fail
to provide fair pay for fair work, including stronger visa
penalties for those found guilty of flouting labour and minimum
wage laws.
- Reform the Migration Advisory Committee to link it to the
bodies setting out industrial and skills strategy - learning from
the Australian approach to ensure that where skills shortages
lead to a sector remaining on the Shortage Occupation List, that
must be tackled with a plan to upskill workers in the UK.
As part of its crackdown on exploitation and its plan
for social care, Labour is calling for:
-
Tough new rules on sponsors of social care
visas, including restricting the use of repayment
clauses for relocation and visa costs, and requiring compliance
with Department for Health and Social Care rules on
international recruitment as a condition of gaining a sponsor
licence.
-
Stronger enforcement against exploitative
agencies, through a review of existing sponsor licence
holders in social care and a new single enforcement body for
employment rights and protections to ensure greater
coordination in the face of complex labour market challenges
and investigate and bring bad actors to justice.
-
Serious reforms to the social care workforce,
including the introduction of a National Care Service, a
workforce plan, and the rollout of a Fair Pay Agreement in
adult social care empowering workers, the trade unions that
represent them, and employers to negotiate a sector wide floor
for better terms and conditions.
