Call to build greater public confidence in UK immigration policy
The Home Affairs Committee has called on the government to set a clear objective to build greater consensus and trust on immigration.
Their report: Immigration policy: basis for building consensus calls for the UK’s immigration policy to be informed by honest, open debate and highlights the belief that there is significant common ground on which to build consensus rather than mistrust and division.
Within the 57 page report, the inquiry’s recommendations include:
- Annual Migration Report – It is recommended that the government introduces a three year rolling plan for migration including targets or controls for different kinds of migration. Incorporating extensive public consultation, it is proposed that the objectives should be set out in an Annual Migration Report;
- Simplified immigration law – A clearer explanation of the different types of immigration and the policy frameworks that govern them are called for by the report;
- Labour Market Data – The report recommends that the MAC is engaged to regularly collect and publish data on the relationship between the labour market and immigration;
- End to migration target – The report recommends that a new framework of targets and controls based on evidence should replace the net migration target and the government should immediately remove students from the current net migration target;
- Improved performance – Coupled with improved quality assurance and the recruitment, training and retention of immigration officials, the report calls for an improvement in the Home Office’s performance to tackle immigration errors and delays;
- Welcoming top talent – Immigration rules should allow UK organisations to easily attract top talent in internationally competitive fields with restrictions and controls focussed more on low-skilled migration; and
- Reducing immigration through training – Work related immigration routes should be linked to strategies for improving investment in domestic skills and training with the target of reducing dependency on migrant labour.
The report includes some creditable recommendations for building public trust and understanding in a simplified immigration system. There is no doubt that confidence in the government’s immigration policy approach would be enhanced if many of these proposals, such as a greater level of factual information surrounding the costs and benefits of immigration, were introduced.
It therefore remains to be seen if the government is willing to move away from its ‘hostile’ approach towards immigration enforcement and, as suggested, seek greater consensus on future policy options.
