Yvette Cooper has stated that as part of a rule change aimed at reducing net migration, care facilities will not be allowed to hire foreign workers.
Cooper will unveil broader proposals to lower net migration to the UK on Monday, and this is a sneak peek at them. Labour’s immigration reforms put decades of party ideology to the test.
Additionally, it has come to light that the government intends to evaluate and deport any foreign criminals who commit crimes in the United Kingdom.
Cooper stated in a series of interviews on Sunday that the government would focus on hiring in lower-skilled industries rather than establishing a net migration number.
Cooper stated in an interview with Trevor Phillips on Sky News’ Sunday Morning. “We’re going to introduce new restrictions on lower-skilled workers, so new visa controls, because we think actually what we should be doing is concentrating on the higher-skilled migration, and we should be concentrating on training in the UK.
“New requirements to train here in the UK to make sure that the UK workforce benefits, and also we will be closing the care worker Visa for overseas recruitment.”
Cooper responded that enterprises should hire from a pool of people who arrived as care workers in good faith but have been “exploited ” by dishonest employers when asked where care homes would hire staff by Laira Kuenssberg of the BBC.
“Care companies should be recruiting from those workers. They can also extend existing visas. They could recruit as well from people who are on other visas, who are already here. But we do think it’s time to end that care worker recruitment from abroad,” she said.
Cooper said ministers thought modifications to some visas may lead to “up to 50,000 fewer lower-skilled visas” over the next year, but she declined to specify a particular goal for net migration.
Currently, only foreign criminals who are sentenced to imprisonment are reported to the Home Office, and only those who are imprisoned for a year are typically given consideration for deportation.
The new arrangements will allow the Home Office to use its broader removal powers for other crimes, such as taking quicker action to remove individuals who have just arrived in the country but have already committed crimes, and will notify it of all foreign nationals convicted of crimes, not just those who are sentenced to prison.
The change will make it simpler to apprehend offenders of crimes like street crime, knife crime, and assault against women and girls before their threat becomes more serious.
Cooper will deliver a government white paper on Monday, which outlines proposals for future legislation aimed at significantly reducing net migration. This comes as officials attempt to address Reform UK’s success in the local election.
