THE Prime Minister has set out the UK Government’s detailed plans to secure the future of EU nationals living and working in the UK after Brexit. This is a good start and begins the process to secure a deal that businesses urgently need. However, with progress being made on the rights of existing employees, thoughts are now turning to how the UK’s post-Brexit migration system will impact on businesses’ ability to attract the brightest and the best from across the world.
The idea that the UK can set an arbitrary target for inward migration is nonsense. Migration can be managed but targets must be set intelligently and flexibly, and must be designed to meet business and economic needs. Population is a key factor in the economy and our economic growth ambitions can only be met if our population can expand to provide the workforce that our businesses need.
Yes, we must do better domestically at enabling business demand to drive the skills agenda, and that includes upskilling and reskilling existing workers as well as getting more young people into the workforce. Locally delivered Developing the Young Workforce initiatives have a crucial role here in informing parents, teachers and young people about the job opportunities of the future. However, in many sectors, the demand for talent exceeds the domestic supply and there is a need to plan skills supply to include recruitment from overseas, including opening up new opportunities for the international talent that we are educating in our university and college sector, giving more of these young people the chance to experience work in Scotland through post-study work options.
Our future migration system must also provide for the temporary and seasonal employment needs of our agricultural and hospitality sectors as well as supporting employment across a range of skill sets, from our scientific and financial services businesses through to social and child care services.
In addition to sectoral needs, migration should also be tailored to geographical need. Scotland’s projected population growth to 2024 is only 3.1 per cent, compared to a projected 7.5 per cent increase for England over the same period, and we need a UK migration system that can address this deficit. Scotland’s public finances are now largely dependent upon our economy’s ability to keep pace with the UK, so unless a solution is found which recognises the pressing need for population growth in Scotland, then we may all lose out.
Liz Cameron is the chief executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce
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