Expert opinion came down firmly on the side of Vince Cable yesterday after he criticised the “very unwise” targets set by the Prime Minister to cut non-EU immigration to “tens of thousands” a year.
The Liberal Democrat Business Secretary has repeatedly expressed fears that a permanent cap on immigration could damage UK economic competitiveness by preventing employers from hiring skilled workers from overseas in order to fill vacancies that they are unable to find candidates for in the domestic labour pool.
Cable told the BBC: “The reference to the tens of thousands of immigrants rather than hundreds of thousands is not part of the coalition agreement. It is Tory party policy only,” adding that David Cameron’s comments to Conservative activists risked “inflaming extremism”. But the Prime Minister said that his words had been “measured”.
The business community warned that placing a permanent cap on the number of skilled non-EU migrants that could work in the country could be “disastrous” for the economy and economic recovery, however.
Dave Way, managing director of accountancy and financial services recruiter Marks Sattin, said: “Putting a cap on skilled labour is a dangerous strategy. Of course, there have to be limits, but to prevent an influx of talent and highly trained people from abroad is potentially disastrous for the economy, particularly in the financial services sector.”
Since the end of the recession, the organisation had seen daily rates for finance professionals increase because the demand for skilled labour outstripped supply. As a result, “the ability to attract qualified professionals – especially from southern hemisphere countries – is essential if labour costs are not to render the UK’s financial services industry too expensive to be competitive,” he added.
Gerwyn Davies, policy adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, was equally concerned, arguing that a permanent immigration cap was at odds with Cameron’s objective of “good immigration, not mass immigration”.
“Since the permanent cap is only affecting skilled and highly skilled non-EU workers, the potential for government to fill these roles with those coming off welfare seems limited. The number of non-EU workers coming into the country via the points-based system has amounted to tens of thousands in the past couple of years. This is a some pain, little gain policy.”
Further reductions in migrant numbers would bring little gain for the government’s policy objectives of cutting net migration, but some pain for employers struggling to fill skilled vacancies, he warned.
This was because, although official statistics showed that net migration had increased by more than a third since the introduction of a temporary cap last year, CIPD figures indicated that a sixth of employers had been prevented from hiring skilled non-EU workers.
“The government’s efforts should, therefore, concentrate on matching those coming off welfare with unskilled jobs, many of which are disproportionately taken by EU workers, while giving employers every opportunity to fill skilled and highly skilled roles that cannot be filled with British workers,” Davies said.
