Sajid Javid in row with Theresa May over when to restrict flow of low-skilled workers
Home Secretary Sajid Javid is locked in a Brexit row with Theresa May over how quickly to restrict low-skilled immigration, the Sun can reveal.
Sources claimed the Home Secretary wants to keep the border open to low skilled workers beyond the end of 2020 in a sop to business. But the PM is said to want to introduce restrictions as soon as the post-Brexit transition phase is over in two years' time so firms are forced to train up young Brits.
Insiders fear the fresh battle means the Government's flagship Immigration White Paper may not be published in full before the PM's crunch Commons Brexit vote next week.
Uncertainty around a new post-Brexit border system has also raised concerns the Home Office would have no way of ending free movement if we leave the EU without a deal in March.
A Whitehall source said: "Sajid and the PM are at loggerheads. They agree on main points, but the argument is over how quickly they move to bring down low-skilled migration. Sajid wants to keep the system as it is for a while but she thinks there has to be a date, something to motivate firms to recruit here instead.”
A Government-backed committee in September called for an end to low-skilled immigration - but to removing all caps on high skilled workers from the EU and the rest of the world.
The Home Secretary, Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Greg Clark have all been urging the PM to be far softer on cheap foreign labour because businesses say they face staff shortages.
The PM hinted at her frustrations in Argentina this weekend - by saying she hoped firms would recruit more British workers. She told reporters: “We have seen a huge creation, a significant creation of new jobs in our country. What I hope to see and what I’m sure we will be seeing is opportunities for young people in the UK.”
A Cabinet source last week told the Sun that Mrs May was “in a majority of one” in trying to halt as much low skilled immigration as possible post-Brexit.
Sajid Javid told MPs he had hoped to bring out the White Paper in July. He was due to spearhead a media round championing the PM's Brexit deal this morning with the message that the UK is taking back control of its borders.
Today Mr Javid will argue that the PM's Brexit deal will enable the Government to restore public confidence in immigration policy through the introduction of a skills-based system.
He said last night: "It is a simple fact that EU free movement rules mean the politicians they elect have no control over who comes here from Europe and how many. Leaving the EU gives us the opportunity to change this. That's why ending free movement and control of our borders has been a key aim in our Brexit negotiations.
MOST READ IN BREXIT
"The deal secured delivers that. We will be able to introduce a skills-based immigration system, based on what people can offer, not where they come from."
Ministers have been coming under increasing pressure to say when they will publish a long-awaited immigration white paper amid reports of Cabinet splits on the issue.
Mr Javid and Chancellor Philip Hammond are reported to be pressing for the Government finally to abandon the target of reducing net migration below 100,000 a year - a move which Mrs May is said to be resisting.
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk