Karan Bilimoria

New policies must replace the hostile and economically illiterate attitude the State has taken towards migrants

WITH A 4.2% RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UK, WE WOULD HAVE AN ACUTE LABOUR SHORTAGE WITHOUT WORKERS FROM OVERSEAS, SKILLED AND UNSKILLED, INCLUDING THE 3.7 MILLION EU CITIZENS

The appointment of Sajid Javid, the son of an immigrant, as home secretary, gives me hope that we can now move towards sensible immigration policies which recognise the benefits that migration brings to this country. We need a fundamental change of attitude to immigration and I recommend he implement seven changes in policy. One would be to reintroduce exit checks. Since 1998, Britain has not had physical, visible exit checks at our borders. Passports are checked when people enter the country, but not when they leave. The e-borders system we have in place is not good enough — particularly given the serious security and terrorism threats we face. We need to make sure that every passport, EU and non-eu, is scanned on entry and also when people leave the country. And only by having exit check data will we have a truly accurate picture of net migration.

We must abolish net-migration targets. The Conservatives imposed a target to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands. In my view, the net migration target is completely arbitrary and should be scrapped.

It is necessary to be compliant, not hostile, towards immigration. The Home Office’s recently retired Head of Immigration Enforcement, David Wood, believes there may be as many as one million undocumented illegal immigrants in this country. We simply don’t know the true figure but sending vans around the country telling illegal immigrants to go home is not the right way to tackle the problem. Neither is the practice of imposing hostile deportation targets.

Build free trade deals around the movement of people. One mantra at the heart of Brexit is ‘Britain going global’ and forging trade deals around the world, including with India. We must ensure that every imbalance is redressed — for example, where Chinese business visitors and tourists may acquire two-year multiple entry visas at a reduced price of £85, for Indians, the price is still £388.

We must meet the demand for skills. Good immigration policies allow immigration to fill the gaps in the British economy, filling vacancies, whether it is doctors or nurses required by the NHS or chefs for the multibillion pound curry industry which generates millions of pounds for the exchequer annually. Across the board, with a 4.2% rate of unemployment in the UK, we would have an acute labour shortage without workers from overseas, skilled and unskilled, including the 3.7 million EU citizens in the UK.

We should welcome international students. In my role as president of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, which looks after the interests of the 438,000 international students in the UK who contribute £25 billion to the economy, I know that there is cross-party support in both Houses of Parliament. This government must also reintroduce the two-year poststudy work visa, which existed earlier.

Have a target to increase international students. We are in a global race where international students are concerned. Their numbers globally are increasing, with demand from Indian international students increasing by 8% annually. We should have a target to increase the number of international students to the UK.

Looking ahead to Brexit, if we do leave the EU and the single market, we need to ensure that there is free movement of people that exists today — be it for our citizens as tourists overseas, be it for the over 3.7 million EU citizens who work in the UK or for the 20% of our academics at our leading universities who are from the EU. Far from being a burden on this country, EU citizens in this country contribute six times more than they take out in public services, and operate at every level from low skilled to high skilled, in both the public and private sectors.

 

We must use existing EU regulations that already give control of EU migration. One of the main reasons for Brexit was to take back control of borders and immigration. Yet we have been able to control our borders without leaving EU since 2004, when a directive allowed EU countries to repatriate EU nationals if they cannot support themselves after three months. Britain has never implemented this regulation. We have never used this EU directive: why?

 

Karan Bilimoria is founder and chairman of Cobra beer, the president of the UK Council for International Student Affairs and founding chairman of the UK -India Business Council. The views expressed are personal  

Courtesy: Hindustan Times: 8 May 2018