James Cleverly, the home secretary, has triggered alarm in the health and care sectors by announcing sweeping plans to restrict immigration. He said the measures would cut annual immigration by 300,000 and, promoting the plans on social media, the Conservative party described this as the “biggest ever cut in net migration”.
In the Commons the proposals were welcomed by Tory MPs, many of whom have been demanding much stricter controls since the publication of figures showing net migration at a record high of 745,000 last year. Cleverly said criticism of the plan from Labour MPs showed the opposition was not serious about wanting to reduce immigration. He also dismissed claims that the plans would exacerbate worker shortages in the health and social care sectors, where employers rely on foreign staff. The impact would not be “significant”, he claimed. (See 4.45pm.) But health and care sector leaders said they were alarmed by the plans. Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, which represents hospitals and other NHS bodies, said: With over 120,000 staff shortages in the NHS and over 150,000 in social care, measures that deter people from joining these professions are deeply concerning. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan is clear that international recruitment will continue to play a key role in the NHS’s future, alongside domestic training. We therefore need the health and care sectors to remain attractive not only to domestic workers but also to those educated internationally. Caroline Abrahams, a director at Age UK and co-chair of the Care and Support Alliance, which represents more than 60 charities, said: We are worried that older and disabled people in need of care, and their families, will pay a heavy price for the government’s changes to the migration rules from next Spring. It is an open secret that inward migration effectively ‘saved’ the social care workforce last year and, as things stand, anything that undermines that source of support must be a real concern. Too many people in need struggle to access good care as it is, and the risk is that today’s announcement will make the situation worse. And Prof Nicola Ranger, chief nurse at the Royal College of Nursing, said: Ministers appear comfortable with tearing apart families to score political points. This cruel sanction will deter care workers from coming to the UK, adding to dire workforce shortages in social care and ultimately piling even more pressure on an overburdened NHS. The home secretary admitted in his own announcement in the Commons that health workers with families will be put off joining our short-staffed health and care services. A Labour government must shed the assumption that public spending is “the only lever that can ever be pulled” to improve people’s lives, Keir Starmer has said, as he refused to rule out keeping planned cuts to government departments if he won power. Jeremy Hunt has blamed Brexit for more than half a decade of political instability that has undermined business investment in the UK, as he sought to defend tax cuts paid for by public sector austerity to drive up economic growth.