{"id":1055,"date":"2018-07-23T13:44:36","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T12:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2018-07-23T13:58:34","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T12:58:34","slug":"report-by-scottish-affairs-committee-should-acknowledge-that-over-two-thirds-of-scots-want-reduced-eu-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2018\/07\/23\/report-by-scottish-affairs-committee-should-acknowledge-that-over-two-thirds-of-scots-want-reduced-eu-immigration\/","title":{"rendered":"Report by Scottish Affairs Committee should acknowledge that over two-thirds of Scots want reduced EU immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"
    \n
  1. The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee has released its\u00a0report<\/a> on the topic of \u2018Immigration and Scotland\u2019. This is our response.<\/li>\n
  2. It\u00a0is very\u00a0disappointing that the report’s conclusion saw fit to ignore the crucial fact, made in both oral and written evidence to the Committee, that the majority of Scots [55%] think that immigration levels over the past decade have been too high [YouGov\u00a0survey\u00a0<\/a>conducted in April 2018]. It is also notable that, according to a recent\u00a0poll\u00a0<\/a>conducted for\u00a0Channel Four<\/em>, over two-thirds of Scottish respondents (70%) wanted\u00a0to see a reduction in the level of\u00a0EU immigration, including 43% who wished to see a big reduction.<\/li>\n
  3. The\u00a0report\u00a0<\/a>does, however, include\u00a0some\u00a0useful \u00a0suggestions. For instance, there may be a case for reviewing the current Scottish Shortage Occupation List in order to ensure it fully takes accounts of Scotland’s immigration\u00a0needs.<\/li>\n
  4. There is also a case for ensuring, as the report recommends, that the current Tier 2 system be made less bureaucratic and complicated. However, a certain amount of paperwork is inevitable in ensuring immigration compliance. The Tier 2 process as it stands might also help to ensure that UK employers hire local recruits where suitable candidates are available.<\/li>\n
  5. We agree with the suggestion that\u00a0UK government ‘should also consider how Scotland can increase its\u00a0share of migrants who come to the UK<\/em>‘. Indeed, we made this point in our\u00a0written evidence\u00a0<\/a>to the Committee and in our oral evidence on 30 January [see transcript<\/a>].\u00a0However, this is surely\u00a0more\u00a0a\u00a0matter for\u00a0the Scottish Government than the UK government given the powers that have been devolved.<\/li>\n
  6. The Committee’s suggestion for the implementation of a new and improved Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ scheme is also sensible, although our view is that this should also incorporate robust safeguards against overstaying and undercutting of UK workers, along the lines of the current New Zealand scheme which has been cited by the World Bank as an example of ‘best practice’ [see our\u00a0paper<\/a>].<\/li>\n
  7. It is disappointing, however, that the Committee’s has failed to rule out proposing to move to a regionally differentiated immigration system. As was noted in\u00a0evidence to the Committee,\u00a0such a regional system, if it\u00a0were\u00a0implemented,\u00a0would be even more complicated and bureaucratic than the current system.\u00a0 Only some 5% of firms surveyed were in favour of it<\/li>\n
  8. The report says that the UK\u2019s current Tier 2 system disadvantages Scotland by being based on salary. However, as the MAC said in January 2016: \u201cPay is the most transparent and objective measure of an employee\u2019s economic value.\u201d<\/em> Surely if wages are not high enough to attract Scots into Scottish jobs then employers need to raise them. As the MAC noted<\/a> in March: \u201cIndividual employers would almost always be able to recruit resident workers if they paid wages sufficiently above the going rate.\u201d<\/em> Businesses also need to invest more in training and improve working conditions, for instance in the food processing sector.<\/li>\n
  9. The report is\u00a0misleading when it states that ‘future population growth in Scotland is expected to be entirely dependent on inward migration<\/em>‘. It fails to add the crucial contextual point that, in the words of\u00a0National Records of Scotland<\/a>, although ‘all of the projected increase in Scotland\u2019s population over the next 10 years is due to net in-migration to Scotland’,\u00a058% of net in-migration is projected to come from overseas over this period, with 42% from the rest of the UK’<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  10. As we said in our\u00a0written evidence\u00a0<\/a>to the Committee, as the\u00a0peak age of outward migration to other parts of the UK is 23-24 years old, ‘clearly\u00a0more needs\u00a0to be done to encourage young people to remain in Scotland after their studies\u00a0are complete<\/em>‘.<\/li>\n
  11. A further crucial point, omitted from the report’s conclusions, is that the\u00a0Scottish Government has\u00a0accepted\u00a0that Scotland\u2019s population would still\u00a0grow by 5% during 2014-2039 even if EU net migration were reduced to half its present level [Scottish\u00a0Government, \u2018Scotland\u2019s place in Europe<\/a>\u2019, December 2016].<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To read more about our proposals for a post-Brexit immigration system for the UK, read our June 2018\u00a0paper.<\/a><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee has released its\u00a0report on the topic of \u2018Immigration and Scotland\u2019. This is our response. It\u00a0is very\u00a0disappointing that the report’s conclusion saw fit to ignore the crucial fact, made in both oral and written evidence to the Committee, that the majority of Scots [55%] think that immigration levels over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,7,5,9,18],"tags":[97,98,96,92,75,84],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employment","category-european-union","category-migration-trends","category-population","category-visaswork-permits","tag-brexit-immigration","tag-brexit-migration","tag-brexit-scotland","tag-eu-immigration","tag-eu-migration","tag-scotland-immigration"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReport by Scottish Affairs Committee should acknowledge that over two-thirds of Scots want reduced EU immigration - Migration Watch UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2018\/07\/23\/report-by-scottish-affairs-committee-should-acknowledge-that-over-two-thirds-of-scots-want-reduced-eu-immigration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Report by Scottish Affairs Committee should acknowledge that over two-thirds of Scots want reduced EU immigration - Migration Watch UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee has released its\u00a0report on the topic of \u2018Immigration and Scotland\u2019. 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