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Report urges UK to lift cap on skilled migrants after Brexit

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Report urges UK to lift cap on skilled migrants after Brexit
News

News

Report urges UK to lift cap on skilled migrants after Brexit

2018-09-18 19:35 Last Updated At:19:40

Citizens of European Union countries should not have easier access to the U.K. after Brexit than people from other parts of the world, a government-commissioned report recommended Tuesday.

EU citizens now can live and work in the U.K. under the bloc's free-movement rules, but that will end after Britain leaves the EU in March.

The government asked the Migration Advisory Committee for a report on the impact of EU migration to help shape its future policy.

The committee said "a migrant's impact depends on factors such as their skills, employment, age and use of public services, and not fundamentally on their nationality."

Chairman Alan Manning said if immigration was not part of the divorce negotiations between Britain and the bloc, "we recommend moving to a system in which all migration is managed with no preferential access to EU citizens."

British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative government has not ruled out offering EU citizens preferential access after Brexit in return for similar rights for British citizens in Europe.

The committee, whose members are economists, said the government should make it easier for skilled immigrants to come to Britain by removing a cap on high- and medium-skilled workers, while restricting access for lower-skilled migrants.

It also said immigration had little impact on British workers' employment prospects or wages, contradicting an argument used by some advocates of quitting the 28-nation bloc.

More than 1 million EU citizens have settled in Britain since eight formerly Communist eastern European nations joined the EU in 2004.

The report said the economic impact of migration from the European Economic Area — the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — was "small in magnitude when set against other changes."

It said the fall in the value of the pound, down more than 10 percent since Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016, had had "a larger impact than the effect on wages and employment opportunities of residents from all the EEA migration since 2004."

Immigration is a divisive issue in Britain and reducing the number of newcomers was a major factor for many voters who in 2016 backed leaving the European Union. The Conservative government has an oft-stated but long-unmet goal of reducing net immigration below 100,000 people a year, less than half the current level.

Tuesday's report rejected many claims made by opponents of immigration about the negative impact of migrants on society and the economy.

It said EEA migrants "pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits," contribute "much more" to the health care system as workers than they consume in services, and do not harm the education prospects of British-born children. The report also found no link between immigration and crime rates.

The Resolution Foundation, an economic think tank, said the report's recommendations would " effectively end low-skilled migration," presenting a challenge for industries such as farming, food manufacturing, hotels and domestic care and cleaning workers.

The group's senior economic analyst, Stephen Clarke, said the proposals "would, if accepted by government, represent the biggest change to the U.K. labor market in a generation."

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed satisfaction on Monday after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor.

Candidates from his pro-European Union centrist Civic Coalition, or running with the party's backing, won in a series of cities in the second round of local elections held on Sunday, among them Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw and Rzeszow.

“It is very difficult to clearly say who won and who lost,” Tusk said Monday. “But if we compare these results, especially in the most attractive places, on these attractive battlefields ... then I actually have reasons for satisfaction.”

“Law and Justice has simply disappeared in many places,” Tusk added at a news conference, referring to the main opposition party.

The results put Civic Coalition in a favorable position as the country looks next to elections to the European Parliament on June 9.

Mayors were chosen in a total of 748 cities and towns where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round on April 7.

Candidates for Tusk’s party also recaptured cities where they had not held power for many years, including Zielona Gora, Legnica and Torun.

The local and regional elections were viewed as a test for Tusk's pro-European Union government four months after it took power at the national level. Sunday's second round strengthened the Tusk government's leverage in the cities, which should facilitate cooperation on development projects and allotment of EU funds.

Tusk's allies also won in some places in the first round two weeks ago, including in Warsaw, where incumbent Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was an easy victor.

In the first round, the right-wing Law and Justice, prevailed on the level of regional assemblies in the country's 16 provinces, where it took 34.3% of the votes, while Tusk's Civic Coalition got 30.6%. Law and Justice governed on the national level from 2015-23.

Tusk’s socially liberal Civic Coalition traditionally has strong support in cities, while Law and Justice has a more solid base in conservative rural areas, particularly in eastern Poland.

Civic Coalition is the largest group in a three-party coalition that governs the EU nation of 38 million people. The coalition is pro-European Union but otherwise spans a wide ideological spectrum with left-wing politicians in the Left party as well as conservatives in the Third Way.

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Campaign posters promote candidates as Poles vote in local and regional elections in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Campaign posters promote candidates as Poles vote in local and regional elections in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacts during his and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with students in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacts during his and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with students in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk listens to the media in Berlin, Germany, Friday, March 15, 2024. Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk listens to the media in Berlin, Germany, Friday, March 15, 2024. Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

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