The Confederation of British Industry has urged Theresa May to drop her “blunt target” on immigration numbers and introduce new freedom of movement rules for EU citizens post-Brexit to ensure firms, large and small, can stay in business when the UK leaves the bloc.
Outlining the results of a major consultation with business leaders, Josh Hardie, the CBI’s deputy director general, said companies believed an injection of honesty was urgently needed in the political debate about migration.
“This is no longer a theoretical debate, it’s about the future of our nation. False choices and sloganeering must be avoided at all costs,” he said.
In a report, published on Friday, the CBI argues that the nation’s needs are more complex than simply ensuring that the UK could attract the “brightest and best”.
It calls for new rules for EU citizens to keep open the pipeline of migrant workers in all sectors including agriculture, hospitality, construction, the NHS and the creative industries; and an easing of the policy for non-EU workers to give small businesses, unable to afford the visas or deal with Home Office red tape, a chance to plug any gaps arising from Brexit.
“Openness and control must not be presented as opposites. Public attitudes towards migration and the impact it has on communities are far more nuanced,” said Hardie.
The CBI’s report on immigration comes weeks after a cabinet split on post-Brexit immigration policy, with the former home secretary Amber Rudd’s plans to give EU citizens preferential treatment reportedly scrapped in June by her successor, Sajid Javid.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
