Government’s immigration plan will shut the door on ‘low-skilled’ workers

The government has finally told us what they actually mean by the ‘points-based’, Australian-style system they’ve been banging on about for so long. The plan has been revealed in a document released overnight. But, as pointed out by Labour’s Diane Abbott, it’s not so much a points-based system as a salary threshold. The policy basically involves shutting the door on non-English speakers and ‘low-skilled’ workers: a quick overview of the ten-page briefing reveals that there will be no route in for the self-employed, migrants coming to the UK will need a job offer with a salary of £25,600 and they will have to speak English.

The announcement commits the government to reducing immigration, which is interesting in both its ability to make businesses nervous and in that it’s another promise to bring down levels of immigration, a full decade after David Cameron promised and failed to do so. Business has responded with concerns about how they’re going to find the people they need; the Confederation of British Industry said that hospitality, care and construction will be most affected by the new regime. The Shadow Home Secretary said that the policy will “need to have so many exemptions, for the NHS, for social care and many parts of the private sector, that it will be meaningless”, and added that it will be difficult to attract the skilled workers the country needs with the “Tories’ hostile environment is in place”.

Speaking of hostile environments, the Brit awards was a pretty unfriendly place for the PM last night. London rapper Dave used his performance to pay tribute to terror attack victim Jack Merrit, but also called out the government on its continued failure to support Grenfell survivors and its treatment of the Windrush generation. He labelled Boris Johnson a “real racist”. Don’t worry though, because Conservative MP Priti Patel told us this morning that it is “utter nonsense” and that she doesn’t “know what those comments are based on”. On quick reflection, it could based on his calling black people “piccaninnies”, the talk of “watermelon smiles”, the description of Muslim women as bank robbers and letterboxes, or his account of hearing alarm bells when he sees a “bunch of black kids”. Employing proponents of eugenics in government advisory roles probably doesn’t help either.

In the Labour leadership contest, we wait for the endorsement from the London mayor – Sadiq Khan has said that he is deciding between Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy, and will announce his support for one of them next week when the ballots drop. As a longstanding Corbynsceptic, it’s perhaps unsurprising that he has ruled out voting for Rebecca Long-Bailey. Voting in the process won’t begin until February 24th with ballots closing on April 2nd.