Liz Truss faces her ministerial front line as she prepares to increase immigration to spur economic growth.
The Prime Minister is pushing for far-reaching reform of Britain’s visa system to tackle acute labor shortages and attract top talent from around the world.
In the coming weeks, she intends to raise the ceiling on seasonal agricultural workers and make changes to the list of shortage occupations, which will allow key sectors to recruit more staff from abroad.
framework told colleagues she wanted to recruit broadband engineers from overseas to support the government’s commitment to make full fiber broadband available to 85% of UK homes by 2025. He was also suggested that it could relax the English language requirement in certain sectors to allow more foreign workers to qualify for visas.
…Jacob Rees-Mogg, the business secretary, told colleagues he would only support the changes if they were shown to increase GDP per capita.
This is the Times of London (gated) article. Truss has a very specific plan to boost both high-skilled immigration and construction in Britain, perhaps the two best policies to spur growth. And yet, the silence of many who should approve has been deafening. To be clear, the question remains open whether Truss will be able to push through the relevant policies – but at least she’s trying!