Building a post-Brexit immigration system for the economic recovery

Article

The UK is set to introduce a new system for work-based immigration in January 2021. For the first time in decades, the government will apply the same rules on migration to both EU and non-EU citizens.

These changes to immigration policy come at a time of extraordinary economic upheaval, as the UK government continues to wrestle with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the ongoing recession, and the UK’s departure from the EU single market.

This report assesses the potential implications of the government’s new points-based immigration system and sets out proposals for how the system can support the UK’s economic recovery. We explore how immigration policy can be designed to facilitate the UK government’s ambitions to ‘build back better’ from the coronavirus crisis. Our recommendations focus on how the UK’s immigration system can help create high quality, well paid jobs and enhance working conditions for UK and migrant workers alike.

Related items

  1. What would it take to eradicate child poverty in Scotland?

    Delivering on the First Minister’s commitment to ‘eradicate’ child poverty seems a long way off.
  2. A wind farm in the hills to the south of Glasgow, Scotland.

    Apathy and opposition: Understanding the real threats to net zero

    Climate action is under siege from populist and far-right actors. Delivering under that pressure demands fresh confidence and commitment from government. 
  3. A flood warning sign, on a closed country road next to water logged fields in the Avon Valley, Hampshire, England

    Adapt or die: Why progressives need to deal with extreme weather

    The impacts of extreme weather are already directly affecting people and communities across the UK. We lack ways to deal with this.