Starmer told to spell out impact of immigration plan – Daily Business

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to explain how his new immigration plans will impact on Scotland.

SNP Economy spokesperson Dave Doogan MP said the plans represent a “clear danger to Scotland’s NHS and social care services, businesses and economic growth”.

He challenged the Prime Minister to be “honest with voters and spell out, in detail, the devastating impact the evidence shows your plans will inflict on Scottish public services, Scottish businesses – and those across the UK.”

It comes amid a backlash from the care sector, and other industries, over the plans, which would restrict the recruitment of workers. Scottish Care has expressed “deep concern” over the proposed removal of the care visa route.

Dr Donald Macaskill, CEO of Scottish Care, warned: “The UK Government’s direction of travel on immigration continues to reflect a hostile and dehumanising culture that fundamentally contradicts the values of compassion and care that underpin our sector in Scotland.”

The prime minister said on Monday the UK risked becoming an “an island of strangers” without stricter controls on immigration. The phrase has led some Labour MPs to accuse him of divisive language.

But Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has defended the language used by Sir Keir and rejected a comparison made by a small number of Labour MPs, notably former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, to the language of Enoch Powell in the 1960s.

She said the PM had been seeking to highlight the impact of rising migration in recent years and “support for integration,” including English language tests.

She added that she did not know whether the PM or his speech writers were aware of any similarity to a line in Powell’s notorious Rivers of Blood speech in 1968, in which the Conservative MP described a future in which Britons “found themselves made strangers in their own country” due to immigration.

Downing Street also rejected the comparison and said the PM stands by his words and “the argument he was making that migrants make a massive contribution to our country, but migration needs to be controlled”.

Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick lent his support to the prime minister’s comments, saying Sir Keir’s warning the UK could become an island of strangers was “already” true in parts of the country.

However, he pointed out that when he stood to Labour leader, Sir Keir had stood on a policy of “supporting mass migration”.

SNP letter to the Prime Minister

Dear Sir Keir

I am writing to request that you immediately publish a full and detailed UK government impact assessment of the damage the Labour Party’s hostile migration plans will do to Scotland’s NHS and our economy.

Since you outlined your plans on Monday, there has been a widespread backlash from NHS and social care services – and from key sectors across the Scottish and UK economies.

There is real concern that the Labour government’s plans are a clear danger to Scotland’s NHS and social care services, businesses and economic growth – and that they will leave families and communities across Scotland worse off.

It is essential that you are honest with voters and spell out, in detail, the devastating impact the evidence shows your plans will inflict on Scottish public services, Scottish businesses – and those across the UK.

Our NHS and care sector, public services and businesses have already been hit hard by the Labour government’s National Insurance jobs tax hike and Brexit policies, which have increased costs, caused staffing shortages and reduced economic growth.

They will now be dealt another hammer blow from the Labour government’s hostile migration policies, which will likely cause a crisis in social care and long-term damage to the economy. 

When you ran for the Labour Party leadership, you promised “we welcome migrants, we don’t scapegoat them… we have to make the case for the benefits of migration”.

But just like the many other broken promises you made, that pledge now lies in tatters as you shamelessly imitate Nigel Farage and lurch to the right.

In a speech reminiscent of Enoch Powell, you outlined policies that will actively damage Scotland’s public services, our businesses and the prosperity of our economy.

The only person who will benefit from your damaging migration plan is Nigel Farage – who, it seems, is already in control of the UK government and calling the shots at Westminster.

Far from being an ‘island of strangers’ as your xenophobic dog whistle language would have us believe, Scotland’s diverse communities have been built on the contribution of migrants from all over the world. We welcome and value the contribution they make to boosting our economy, improving our public services, and enriching our society.

In contrast, the thing many people in Scotland find increasingly unrecognisable is the Labour Party, which has broken its promises, imposed damaging austerity cuts and tax hikes, and is now morphing into a Nigel Farage tribute act.

Scotland must not be treated as an afterthought by this Labour government – and our economic interests, needs and values must not be sidelined.

I assume you wouldn’t have announced these hostile migration policies without undertaking a full and detailed assessment of the impact they will have on Scotland and the UK. If you still stand by them, you should have no problem publishing a full impact assessment without delay.

I look forward to your swift response.

Yours for Scotland,

Dave Doogan MP

SNP Economy spokesperson