economy immigration policy
Pro-Brexit politician calls for visas for Europeans due to labor shortages
Status: 09.07.2023 | Reading time: 2 minutes
The rate of inflation in Great Britain is also related to the labor shortage (symbolic photo)
Source: dpa
It was considered one of the most important arguments of the Brexit supporters: Low-skilled foreigners should no longer have so easy access to British jobs. But the situation on the labor market seems so dramatic after leaving the EU that people are now thinking differently.
A leading British Brexit supporter and Conservative ex-minister has called for a move away from the UK’s restrictive immigration policy on EU citizens. This is intended to combat the labor shortage and the resulting stubbornly high inflation in the country, ex-Environment Minister George Eustice told the Sunday newspaper Observer, thereby opposing the core promise of Brexit supporters to make it more difficult for low-skilled foreigners to access the domestic labor market .
Young people under the age of 35 from EU countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic countries should initially receive two-year visas on the basis of bilateral negotiations, demanded the former cabinet member of ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In the long term, this should be expanded into a mutual “youth mobility program” with the entire EU.
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The inflation rate in Great Britain was last at 8.7 percent. Experts see a connection to the labor shortage because it leads to lower production and thus a falling supply. If demand stays the same, prices will go up.
The reason for the economic difficulties is not the exit from the EU itself, but the country’s new immigration system, said Eustice. This is not tailored to the needs of the economy. “We let people into the country who are considered qualified such as lawyers, bankruptcy trustees (…) even disk jockeys, although we have no shortage in these areas”. He added: “But we don’t let people come here to work in sectors like the food industry, even though there are acute labor shortages there.”
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One of the main arguments put forward by Brexit advocates for leaving the EU in 2020 was to “take back control of our borders”. The freedom of movement for workers that had applied until then for EU citizens was therefore abolished.
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