Gordon Brown to pledge new curb on immigration
Unskilled non-EU workers to be barred from UK entry as Labour looks to frame debate
(5)Tweet this (13)Patrick Wintour
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 March 2010 22.09 BST

Downing Street officials say Gordon Brown feels the conduct of the immigration debate is almost as important as the debate itself. Photograph: Julien Warnand/EPA

Gordon Brown will tomorrow return to the issue of immigration by promising that no more unskilled workers will be allowed into Britain from outside the EU for the foreseeable future.

The prime minister will also say his commitment to create one million new skilled workers in the next five years will greatly reduce the need for skilled migrants.

Labour hopes the speech, which was still being worked on tonight, will help the prime minister frame the debate on immigration, while avoiding accusations of lurching to the right. It is a trap Brown has fallen into before, when he suggested British jobs were meant for British workers.

Immigration and asylum remains the number two issue for voters, after the economy. According to this month's YouGov poll, Labour is trailing the Tories by 39 points on the subject, the biggest Labour deficit of any single issue.

In a speech in east London, Brown is expected to urge the Conservative party and organisations such as Migration Watch not to indulge in a shrill debate on immigration, as it will only fuel concerns, and help extremist parties.

At the same time, he will acknowledge that voters are concerned by the speed with which some communities appear to be changing. Downing Street officials said Brown feels the manner in which the immigration debate is conducted is almost as important as the debate itself.

The fact that Brown is addressing the issue, just weeks after the home secretary Alan Johnson made a speech in the area, underlines the degree to which Labour realises it must address concerns before the election.

The Tory policy of an annual cap on migrants from outside the EU is popular with voters, even though David Cameron has not specified the level of the cap. Cameron has hinted it may be set as low as 40,000 annually, but Brown will describe the cap as an arbitrary quota that is unfair, unworkable and likely to damage businesses.

Drawing on recent research by the IPPR thinktank, he will argue that the cap is likely to deprive Britain of the small number of skilled workers most needed to help Britain emerge from recession without creating skill bottlenecks.

Labour is also planning to cite key employers that oppose the Tory policy, saying they fear it will damage their ability to trade profitably. The party argues that its flexible points system can act like a more intelligent cap on the number of skilled workers entering Britain.

Brown is expected to point to reforms that will see the number of students entering the country fall by 40,000. He will also say the UK Commission for Employment and Skills recognised that there are only 60,000 skill shortages in the UK – the bulk of them in health and social care.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/3 ... mmigration