by Iain Eames-
Foreign people should not take jobs British people can do, the new home Secretary said today.
The move by Amber Rudd, is aimed it maximising opportunities for British people by setting a resident labour market test that companies must pass before recruiting employees from oversees.
She said the test should ensure that people coming here are filling gaps in the market, not taking jobs British people could do.
It includes a boost to the proportion of British doctors in the NHS, to cut the near record level of migration to Britain.
The forward looking boost to domestic generated talent comes on top of new major restrictions on oversees students that include a two tier visa rule affecting poorer universities and courses and a crackdown on visas, and the introduction of a 140 m “controlling migration fund”.
Rudd.made it clear that leaving the EU was just one step in the campaign for reducing migration. Under her multi- tier visa system, only foreigners who will be attending quality universities would be allowed will be allowed to go on to post study jobs, without passing llan English test.
CRITICAL
Rudd was critical of the current system under which all students irrespective of their talents and university quality, were allowed favourable employment prospects. This allows foreign graduates to.compete with British workers.
Her thinking overlooks the contribution foreign workers contribute to the British economy. She may well hold a deep view that the British people should contribute to their own economy, and benefit first.
She said ” We need to look at whether this one size fits all approach really is good for the hundreds of different universities providing hundreds of different courses across the country. And we need to look at whether this generous offer is really adding value to our economy”.
PASSIONATE
She said she was passionately committed to making sure that our world leading institutions ” can attract the brightest and the best”.
However, Nicola Dandridge of Universities UK stressed that the overwhelming number of foreign students go home at the end of their studies.
The debate will produced mixed feelings, with Rudd’ s rhetoric delicious news to all Brexit supporters. However, EU leaders may view the speech as a hostile one to eu member countries, and even harder their lines against any prospects of trade deals with the UK.
If Theresa May’ s calculation about Britain’s prospect of trading successfully with the rest of the world is accurate, then it won’t matter much how EU leaders view the home secretary’s speech.