Skilled worker migration to be limited under Conservative government

Widespread changes are forecast for immigration legislation should next year’s election see the Conservative Party victorious. Labour’s immigration policy is looming as a key issue in the election after coming under continued fire over recent months.

Among the changes mooted by the Tories would be a complete overhaul for skilled migrants under the Tier 1 and Tier 2 system. Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary declared that under his government a greatly reduced number of immigrants would be encouraged to travel to the UK.

The details were brought to light when Grayling faced questioning by Labour MP and Home Secretary Alan Johnson, in which Grayling argued that the Conservatives would seek to implement a immigration capping system to standardise numbers entering the country each year. Grayling used statistics which indicated that under Labour there were well over 150,000 migrants registered as entering Britain in 2008 under the skilled migrants program. Under the Tories, this figure would be reduced to tens of thousands said Grayling, not hundreds of thousands.

The shadow Home Secretary’s claims were a step up from previous statements made by Prime Minister Gordon Brown who last week said Labour would be reviewing the skilled worker numbers with an additional limiting of the total allowed under law. Brown has continually refrained from making any mention of a capping system but has acknowledged that changes to the Tier 2 system would be rolled out.

Grayling’s fellow Tory and Mayor of London Boris Johnson had earlier suggested that English lessons should be mandatory for all of London’s refugee community, albeit at the tax-payers’ expense.