Gordon Brown has pledged to tighten UK immigration rules
Brown voiced support for the points-based system for assessing immigrants from outside the EU introduced by his government. Now all labor migrants are assessed on a point scale depending on their level of education, qualifications, British experience and income. According to the prime minister, after the introduction of the points-based system in 2008, the number of labor migrants from outside the EU decreased by 44%. In addition, the influx of migrants from Eastern European EU member states has also declined markedly due to the economic crisis.
The British prime minister promised to reduce the number of professions that will be open for immigration under the points-based system. In particular, engineers, qualified chefs and social workers will be excluded from it in the future.
Brown also promised to change the student visa system, which is used by some migrants to come to Britain for work (student visas allow foreigners from outside the EU to work up to 20 hours per week). In the future, student visas will only be issued to those studying in programs leading to a degree (bachelor's, master's or doctorate). Students who come for short courses or schooling will receive regular tourist visas that do not allow them to work.
The prime minister's speech coincided with the publication of a forecast by the country's Office for National Statistics that, if current trends continue, Britain's population will grow from the current 61 million to 70 million by 2030. According to Brown, tightening immigration policy will mean that the population will not grow as fast.
However, the government's initiatives were criticized by opposition parties. Chris Grayling, who is responsible for immigration in the Conservative shadow cabinet, said: "The current government tried to hide its immigration policy. The prime minister's comments show that he has no idea what to do about immigration."
Chris Huhne, a Liberal Democrat spokesperson, noted that "the government's catastrophic failure to manage the immigration system has undermined Britain's liberal attitude towards immigration and immigrants." According to him, this has made far-right ideas popular, in particular leading to increased support for the racist British National Party.
In a comment to Expert, Eiko Thielemann, a professor at the London School of Economics, said: "The real problem is not immigration from outside the EU, which accounts for only 20% of all immigration to Britain, but immigration within the European Union. Britain has one of the most flexible labor markets in the EU, which means it attracts migrants from the entire bloc. The influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Eastern European countries after their accession to the EU in 2004 only highlighted this problem, but it existed before. For example, hundreds of thousands of migrants from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and even Germany live in Britain, who have taken advantage of the flexibility of the local labor market and the generally positive attitude towards migrants."
However, the British government can do nothing about intra-European migration, so it is forced to respond to voter discontent by introducing stricter rules for immigrants from outside the EU. The government's new statements are clearly linked to the election campaign. After all, the opposition Conservatives are in favor of much stricter rules, in particular the introduction of immigration quotas each year. Such quotas could hit both the economy, preventing companies from hiring the best professionals in their field, and families. After all, the introduction of quotas means that British citizens will not be able to sponsor migration visas for their spouses and partners from outside the EU."