Retired banker Chris Kuan had earlier shared an article by the Financial Times about the post-Brexit immigration plan proposed by Prime Minister Theresa may. Specifically, the article focused a poll conducted by the Institute of Directors (IoD) casts doubts over Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May’s post-Brexit immigration plans for high skilled workers
Basically, the article noted that May’s suggestion that UK businesses are reluctant to hire and train locals as they are too reliant on the supply of foreign labour. But they pointed out that May has yet to provide details of her post-Brexit immigration plan as the white paper on the subject is still delayed.
Still, May continues to insist that the new system will greatly prioritise high-skilled workers and a minimum salary threshold of £30,000 will be enforced for incoming migrants which is a concern for blue collar sectors like construction, social are hospitality which will struggle to find suitable hires.
The FT noted in their article that the uncertainty of this new system has done little to mitigate the ‘Brexodus’ of EU migrants from the UK with net migration figures from the EU turning negative in the second quarter of 2018, the first time in almost 10 years.
Of the 10 companies that took part in IoD’s survey, four noted that many of their European staff members have either left or expressed an intention to leave since the infamous Brexit referendum.
Speaking to FT, director of policy at the IoD Edwin Morgan said his members employed people from abroad “because they bring valuable skills and perspectives, and fill gaps where there aren’t UK candidates.” He added, “getting the right person for the job allows businesses to be more successful, which is good for the whole economy.”
Chiming in, Ian Brinkley, acting chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, told FT that he expected to see “a continuing decline in net migration from the EU, worsening skill and labour shortages and further constraining growth”.
Even the British Home Office which is responsible for immigration, security and law and order emphasised the ‘huge contribution’ that EU citizens bring to the UK economy and society. Still without revealing any details of May’s immigration plans, they reassured EU imports that the EU settlement scheme would make it ‘easy’ for them to stay in Britain after the Brexit deal is finalised.
On his post sharing this FT article, Mr Kuan noted the similarities between the UK and Singapore in terms of immigration, “except the UK is not as supercharged on immigration as Singapore.”
He also quoted the paragraph in the article which outlined that the majority of employers in Britain hired foreign staff for their suitability and international perspective.
“The survey of more than 1,000 IoD members found that 85 per cent agreed that they hire EU workers because they are the best fit for the job. The second most common answer, given by 40 per cent of those questioned, was a lack of suitable candidates for the position in the UK. Respondents were allowed to tick up to three answers to why they hire EU staff. By contrast, only 5 per cent said that staff or hiring costs played a factor in their choice of recruitment, and only 2 per cent said employing a worker from abroad removed the need to train existing staff. Meanwhile 32 per cent of those polled agreed that they valued the international perspective brought by non-UK employees.”