Report

Politics or principle? Making sense of the Government’s White Paper on immigration, and how should business respond

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation sets out six key takeaways for how business should think about proactively engaging with the proposals.

Given the Government’s statements on how it views business’ use of overseas workers, the White Paper provided an opportunity for the Government to put its money where its mouth is – to make policy changes to seek to reduce immigration and rebalance in whose interest the economy works. Did it take it? And how should business respond and engage? Despite business’ hopes for a partnership with the new Labour Government, and that this would allow a relatively benign and stable work immigration regime, both ‘politics’ but also ‘principle’ – ‘workerism’ – have taken the Government down a different path, which has led to the proposals in Immigration White Paper.

The biggest political danger for Labour is that trying too hard on immigration may make it more likely to lose because of it. So the White Paper really is a double-edged sword for the Government. There are sensible proposals for change within the White Paper’s proposals – indeed some we have argued for. But the Government’s strident rhetoric suggests an axe is being taken to immigration, when in fact a chisel is being studiously applied to the immigration system, albeit to make a raft of adjustments.

This risks falling into the same trap that previous governments fell into over immigration, and which led Labour to find itself in power in the first place. Particularly when, on irregular migration control, the Government’s current ‘smash the gangs’ policy looks no more likely to succeed than the previous government’s ‘stop the boats’.

For business, clearly aspects of the White Paper’s proposals will be disappointing, but we set out six key takeaways for how business should think about proactively engaging with the proposals, framing its messaging in ways that can chime with the Government’s concerns, but can help to ensure that business interests, concerns and ideas are fairly reflected in the seemingly constant ongoing evolution of the UK’s immigration regime.