Reforms have ‘cut abuse while encouraging brightest and best’, says minister
The number of migrants coming to Britain has dropped by 89,000 to 153,000 in the 12 months to September 2012, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.
Net migration to the UK is now at the lowest level for a decade.
The government said that this reduction has been driven by its reforms such as requiring those who want to gain entry to have a minimum income levels as well as tougher language requirements.
Against the backdrop of net reductions, Home Office minister Mark Harper emphasised the 5 per cent increases in both “the number of visas issued to skilled workers” and “the number of sponsored student visa applications”, implying that the curbs do not bar entry to workers that UK employers need.
“The figures show we have cut out abuse while encouraging the brightest and best migrants who contribute to economic growth,” Harper said.
“We have made substantial inroads in cutting immigration and now have a more selective system that works in our national interest.”
However, Barbara Roche, chair of campaign group Migration Matters, said figures her organisation had collected showed that the number of international students coming to the UK had fallen by 56,000 with a potential loss to the UK economy worth £725 million.
“The government needs to respond to public concerns on immigration. But it needs to do so in the right way for the British economy,” she said.
“At a time when the deficit is so high and the economy needs as much stimulus as possible, cutting almost £1 billion of income is a big step. When responding to public concerns on migration, we mustn’t lose sight of the economic contribution migrants make.”
But Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch UK, a pressure group in favour of reducing the number of migrants coming to the UK, said: “The latest immigration figures are very good news. Net migration is down by 89,000 on the previous year and the government have achieved this without harming the business or university sectors.”
Gerwyn Davies, CIPD public policy adviser, commented: “It is welcome to see the government making progress on one of its key policy objectives. However, in doing so it should not undermine the growth objective by making it difficult to recruit highly skilled non-EU workers.
“The government has recently made some small, positive changes for business. However, the removal of the requirement to advertise increasingly high-skilled roles in Jobcentre Plus is one of many changes that would make a substantive difference to employers and their competitiveness but make little difference to the objective to bring net migration down.”