Post-Brexit immigration plan revealed in leaked document
Britain will cut the number of low-skilled workers coming into the country after Brexit, according to a leaked Home Office paper.
The 82-page-document obtained by The Guardian, suggests new immigration arrangements would come into force immediately once the UK leaves the EU.
Departure from the EU will mean "the end of rights-based, unconditional free movement", with the Government adopting powers to take "a more selective approach" to which migrants will be allowed to work and settle in the UK.
It is understood that the document - marked "Official Sensitive" - is a draft version of an upcoming White Paper which has been circulated among senior officials and politicians but has not been agreed by ministers.
"The Government will take a view on the economic and social needs of the country as regards EU migration, rather than leaving this decision entirely to those wishing to come here and employers," it states.
This could involve requiring EU nationals to seek permission before taking up a job, making employers recruit locally first or restrict access to lower-skilled occupations which are not experiencing staffing shortages, the document suggests.
The Guardian quoted the document as saying: "Put plainly, this means that, to be considered valuable to the country as a whole, immigration should benefit not just the migrants themselves but also make existing residents better off."
Theresa May has previously stated she would like to bring net migration to below 100,000 a year, which the paper indicated is the aim.
The right to bring family members into the country could be tightened to only the most direct relatives like partners, spouses and children.
And there could be an unspecified "income threshold" for EU citizens to show they can support themselves while in the UK.
An EU national living in the UK wanting to bring their spouse in from outside the EU may have to show they earn the £18,600 a year minimum required from the restriction already imposed on Britons, said the document.
Defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon told Good Morning Britain "we don't comment on leaked documents that the media get hold of", adding that specific policy proposals will be set out by the home secretary later in the year.
"We want high skilled people to continue to be welcome here to contribute to our economy, but overall we have said consistently, in election after election, that we do want to bring overall immigration numbers down," he added.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chair of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, said: "This document seems to contradict the Home Secretary's decision just over a month ago to ask the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to provide all the evidence to underpin a new immigration policy.
"Why have they asked the MAC to do a major programme of work if they have already decided what they want to do?
"We understand there was opposition from Number 10 to seeking independent evidence from the MAC.
"Does this document reflect the view of the Home Office or Number 10? The Government's process for developing its policy seems to be completely confused.
"And what assessment has been done of the impact or the inter-relationship between immigration proposals and any trade or single market deal?"
Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas said: "The Government's post-Brexit immigration crackdown isn't just economically illiterate, it's plainly cruel too.
"Ministers know that ending free movement will damage the British economy, yet they are ploughing ahead regardless. Now they're also planning draconian rules on family members of EU nationals and harsh income requirements too."
Labour MP Alison McGovern, a leading supporter of the Open Britain campaign against hard Brexit, said: "This leaked document is part and parcel of a mean and cynical approach which is already deterring people from coming here.
"For example by sending deportation letters to people with every right to be here, and justifying a Home Office crackdown on international students by deploying totally bogus statistics.
"At the end of the day, the best way of reducing immigration is to crash our economy, which is exactly what the Government's plan to pull out of the single market and the customs union risks doing."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: "The Government's plans for an extreme form of hard Brexit have been revealed tonight in a leaked Home Office document.
"It reads like a blueprint on how to strangle London's economy, which would be devastating not just for our city but for the whole country.
"It risks thousands of families being split up.
"Instead of sending out a signal that Britain and London are open for business it would seriously curtail London's ability to attract the best talent and skills from around the world which business leaders say is crucial for future growth and job creation.
"The proposals would make the preferential access to the single market British businesses are calling for almost impossible and would likely lead to severe limits on the ability of British people to move to live in other European countries."
The British Hospitality Association believe the policy could potentially be "catastrophic" for the industry.
Ufi Ibrahim, the chief executive of the BHA, said: “If these proposals are implemented it could be catastrophic for the UK hospitality industry and for those who enjoy the hospitality it brings – whether it be in restaurants, theatres, hotels, bars and tourist attractions.
"The Government need to be urgently reminded that so-called unskilled workers in hospitality - the ambassadors for our country - are necessary. It is not just the bankers and the lawyers that are needed to fill the employment gaps. Our research, from KPMG, shows that at least 60,000 new EU service workers are needed per year just to fill the vacancies in hospitality. The research showed that 75 per cent of waiters, 25 per cent of chefs and 37 per cent of housekeepers are EU nationals. And in London and the south-east, especially, some business rely totally on EU service workers. The UK has near full-employment so where are the recruits going to come from for the UK’s fourth largest industry that employs over 4.5million people nationwide?"