One time cabinet member of immediate past
UK Prime Minister has issued a strong warning to all pro-leave campaigners that
their hope of reducing immigration that led to the vote were wrong as it
appears to be an impossible task.
“For many, a vote for Brexit was
indeed a vote to take back control and return to Westminster the full tools to
cut immigration,” Crabb said in a article for the Guardian.
“The problem is that, set against
the popular expectation that Brexit means cutting immigration, there is nothing
on the horizon to suggest that achieving any significant reduction is
achievable or even desirable.”
Crabb’s intervention comes after
May published a white paper setting out her approach to Brexit. It contained
little detail about the UK’s future immigration policy but made clear there
will need to be legislation to form a new system – and that any changed
approach would be phased in.
Crabb also joined a number of
other Tory MPs on both sides of the Brexit debate who are calling for the UK to
guarantee the rights of EU nationals – an issue that could be the subject of a
House of Commons rebellion during the passage of the Brexit bill next week.
“By recognising their value to
our economy and society, and the sheer inhumanity and impracticality of ever
thinking that these families and individuals could be required to leave the
place they call home, we can take the issue off the table altogether. Now that
would be a powerful and positive statement of our Brexit values,” he said.
He also said the economy is
continuing to engage new workers arriving in the UK and no minister has been
able to point to any group of foreign workers who should or would not be in the
country after Brexit.
More so, the governments of
Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India have already shown that they will be
looking for easier access for their workers to come to the UK as part of any
deal, Crabb added.
“There could be another rude
awakening for the public when they realise that Brexit will not mean a cut in
immigration after all,” he said. “It would be far better for the government to
be upfront with the British public now and begin explaining current labour
market and demographic realities. The previous pledge to cut immigration to the
tens of thousands is, in truth, increasingly irrelevant.”a
No comments:
Write comments