Brown outlines new immigration measures

By Alex Smith

For a while, it’s struck me that – along with housing and jobs – this is a major issue that needs to be debated head-on in the election campaign.

So it’s good to see the Prime Minister taking people’s fears on immigration seriously.

Today, in his podcast, the PM said:

“Doing the right thing for jobs and for a strong Economy – and ensuring fairness for hard working families – is the central theme of this week’s budget. But I recognise that among the concerns you must address when you talk of fairness is immigration.

“Some people talk as if net inward migration is rising. In fact, it is falling – down from 237,000 in 2007, to 163,000 in 2008, to provisional figures of 147,000 last year. Some people talk as if all immigrants stay here forever. In fact, most come for short periods and then return to their own country. And last year alone, over 100,000 Eastern Europeans left Britain to go home.”

He continued:

“Our new points system is radically changing the way we are dealing with immigration from outside the European Union. The essence of it is to refuse entry to people who cannot contribute to the economy in the way we need – and to clearly delineate those skills that we cannot immediately generate in our own country.

In the last week we have taken a further step forward: following the report of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, we are now able to indentify the skills shortages and bottlenecks holding back British businesses – and how they can be addressed this year and in future years.

The first conclusion I draw is that we will continue to have less need for unskilled migrant workers – so for this year and for the foreseeable future none from outside the european union will be allowed in.

The second conclusion I draw is that – as our investment in the training of young people and adult workers raises our local skills levels – the need for skilled migrant workers can be substantially reduced without damaging the prospects of British companies.”

Listen to the podcast here, or read the transcript.