New Home Secretary sets out
her plans for 'radical rewrite'
of immigration system

30 July 2019

Priti Patel, appointed Home Secretary last week, has written in the Mail on Sunday about Boris Johnson’s ‘radical rewrite’ of our immigration system, and how she plans to ‘be the one making this happen.’

She reiterates previous Conservative ministers’ views that the end of free movement after Brexit is a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ and echoes David Cameron’s phrase of attracting ‘the brightest and best’ to the UK after 2021:

‘Aspirational, hard-working people who want to come here – and who have the talent and skills to contribute to our economy and society – are very welcome.

‘Leaving the EU will give us back full democratic control of our immigration system, and the freedom to decide for ourselves who comes here.’

Patel says that in the future ‘skilled migrants will only be able to come here if they have a job offer from an employer registered with the Home Office, and if they can speak English’ (this is in fact no different from the current regulations applicable to non-EEA migrants). Rather than relying on low-skilled workers from the EU as before, she insists that ‘British businesses will have to back our people.’

‘They must invest in training, technology and to increase domestic skill levels.

‘I will leave no stone unturned to help build our vision of a truly global Britain, and part of that is learning from other countries where things work well.’

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