With the Labour party having achieved a majority in the 2024 General Election, Imelda Reddington provides a reminder of their plans for immigration policy.
Labour have pledged to reduce the UK’s reliance on overseas workers, address home-grown skills shortages and ensure that workers are rewarded with decent wages and working conditions.
They have said that they support a points-based immigration system, provided it works for both workers and businesses. As part of the reforms to the current system, Labour have said they will:
- Introduce training plans and requirements for key occupations (these have not been described).
- Look to establish fair pay agreements for adult social care workers.
- Reform the apprenticeship levy to support upskilling the national workforce and focus on developing skills in key shortage areas including construction, IT and engineering.
- Limit access to the immigration system for rogue employers and implement stronger visa penalties for those employers who flout labour and minimum wage laws.
- Reform the Migration Advisory Committee to link it to the relevant skills bodies.
Labour also intend to abolish the Conservatives’ Rwanda policy, and instead invest the estimated £2m spend on a new Border Security Command to crackdown on the criminals responsible for people smuggling. They have also said that they will hire additional caseworkers to clear the backlogs in the UK’s asylum system and end the use of asylum hotels.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether these proposals will be implemented by the Labour government, as well as which areas takes priority. We will keep you updated. Please get in touch at [email protected], if you have any questions.
