Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants: "The cap is unnecessary"
The Government’s decision to introduce a temporary limit on the number of migrant workers from outside the EU allowed into the UK has been strongly criticised by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
Today Home Secretary Theresa May announced that net migration will be scaled back to the levels of the 1990s - to tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands.
Mr. Habib Rahman, chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: “Theresa May’s temporary cap will damage the economy at a critical time.
“We can scarcely afford to knock back the investment and the specialist skills that our current immigration system allows. It would be economic suicide to restrict the numbers of international students who currently pay between £5.3 billion and £8 billion in fees and costs.
“The cap is unnecessary. Numbers are already falling due to the recession. Labour banned so called low skilled migrants from non-EU countries coming to find work and put in place measures to protect the resident labour force.”
He added: “The question now is whether the Conservatives will really turn round to companies like KPMG and say ‘we’ve reached 24,100 people, your expert on economics from China cannot work from your London office’. This would be absurd.”
By Stephen Ogongo
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