Post-Brexit Britain: What will immigration look like?
The rules surrounding immigration to the United Kingdom are set to be re-written as the country comes out of the European Union. All eyes are on this key topic – with political, economic and social implications to be felt whatever is decided.
But, what might immigration look in this future post-Brexit Britain?
What does the public want immigration to look like?
A group of leading MPs has announced that it wants to ask the public for its views on immigration in order to get a much closer idea of what the people actually want to see from the new rules.
Members of the home affairs committee – chaired by Yvette Cooper – will tour the country to speak to people in communities most concerned by the impact of immigration.
Cooper said: “Britain voted for change, especially on free movement, but there has been very little debate about what kind of reforms or immigration control that should now mean or how we get the best deal for the country.
“Successive governments have failed on immigration and public concern has grown. Yet too often the polarised nature of the debate makes it hard to get consensus over what should be done instead. If there is no consensus behind the most important parts of the Brexit deal, in the end it will unravel.”
The committee will also try to inspire events and debates among others – including community and faith groups and local councils.
It remains to be seen how much sway this high profile committee will have, but this is clearly an attempt to bring policy more closely into line with what the public want.
ID cards for migrants?
The Government has already suggested that the three million EU citizens living in the UK will need to have some form of ID documentation after Brexit.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd revealed the change when quizzed by MPs in the ‘Brexit Select Committee’.
Rudd said: "There will be a need to have some sort of documentation... but we are not going to set it out yet.
"We are going to do it in a phased approach to ensure that we use all the technology advantages that we are increasingly able to harness, to ensure that all immigration is carefully handled."
Bid to bring the numbers down
The Government has stressed that the Brexit result reflected a desire for greater control over the rules surrounding immigration but it’s also fairly clear that it intends for this control to reduce the number of people in the UK, with a long-term aim still to reduce net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’ from its current rate of 300,000-plus.
It might be instructive to look at the rules for non-EU migrants – and not just for workers either. Those applying to be a tier 1 entrepreneur (or for a tier 1 entrepreneur extension after three years) already have to prove their credentials in order to set up firms in the UK and EU-based entrepreneurs might be open to similar regulations in the not-so distant future.
Immigration in post-Brexit Britain, then, is likely to be at a lower level (if politicians can manage to reduce levels), with added rules for those EU citizens on these shores and an attempt to appease the will of the public.