UK businesses punished by targets to cut immigration

In 2011 Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to get net migration down to “tens of thousands”, this has lead to a radical change in immigration, for instance the £18,600 income threshold for family migration and salary increases for Tier 2. 

However, today it has been announced that UK net migration has hit a record high (estimated to be 330,000 in the year to March). In light of this the Institute of Directors and British Future have warned that Prime Minister David Cameron is “punishing businesses” by trying to fulfil promises he has made to cut immigration. 

The two groups are calling for a comprehensive immigration review to see what policies could be put in place to achieve the prime ministers immigration target, and to establish what the impact of this would be on the UK’s economy, instead of the prime minister responding to damaging set of immigration figures with radical policies. They suggest that the Migration Advisory Committee could set out plans for dealing with immigration and their likely impact.

We will continue to keep you updated.