EXPERTS will carry out a major assessment of migration from the European Union (EU) to help develop a post-Brexit immigration system that will take into account different needs across the UK, the Home Secretary has said.
Speaking on a visit to Troon, Amber Rudd said the Scottish Government would be expected to contribute to the assessment by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which she has commissioned to carry out a detailed analysis of the role of EU nationals in the UK economy and society.
She said: “When we leave the EU, which will be in March 2019, the current freedom of movement will obviously end so what we’ll need is a new system and we’ve said that that new system will have a proposal whereby new EU workers coming here will need to register. We will need that grace period for a while before the full changes come in, which is what we’re consulting on with the MAC.
“The MAC have been asked to give us the real evidence about the value of EU migration to the UK because we know it has been hugely valuable and we want to make sure that the changes we put in place are evidence-based.”
Asked if the study would examine differences around the UK such as Scotland, she said: “Yes, of course, that’s exactly what we want the MAC to do. We want it to look across the whole country, different regions, of course to Scotland, and also to different industries, so that we make sure that when we set our policy it continues to support employment, growth and prosperity.”
Rudd stated that the UK Government “would certainly expect” the Scottish Government to contribute to the analysis, saying: “It’s going to invite people to submit their views across the whole of the country and then we will listen to what the evidence is, what the essence and value is, the positive elements and challenges of immigration from the EU across the whole country.”
The study will focus on patterns of migration from Europe, considering factors including regional distribution, skill levels and seasonal workers, and will produce interim reports before the final analysis in September 2018.
Rudd has promised business leaders there will be no “cliff edge” on immigration and the government’s final migration policy would be drawn up after the committee has produced its report. In the meantime, she said, there would be an “implementation phase” which would involve new EU workers registering their details when they come to the UK.
The CBI said businesses “urgently” needed to know what EU migration would look like, both in any “transitional” period after March 2019 and beyond.
Ministers have also promised an “extensive” consultation to listen to the views of businesses, unions and universities. Immigration was one of the central topics of last year’s EU referendum campaign, and they have promised to “take back control” of the UK’s borders as they negotiate Brexit.
An immigration bill, which will reveal the government’s chosen method, was included in last month’s Queen’s Speech.
Junior Brexit minister Robin Walker said Scotland’s interests would be heard “loud and clear” in the new immigration system.
Speaking in Edinburgh, he said: “It’s about designing an immigration system that works for our whole economy. Scottish interests will be heard loud and clear in that process but we need to see first of all across the board what the evidence is from the MAC commission about how this works in different parts of the UK.”
Meanwhile, free movement of people between the EU and the UK will end in March 2019, when Britain leaves the EU and a new immigration system will be in place, according to Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis.
He said freedom of movement was one of the “core principles” of the EU, and that a new immigration system would be in place when Britain formally departs the union – two years after Article 50 was triggered. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “Free movement of labour ends when we leave the European Union in the spring of 2019 – we’re very clear about that.”
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