The UK government’s ambitious immigration reforms risk harming economic growth and deepening the country’s skills crisis unless matched by a fundamental overhaul of the domestic training system, leading business groups have warned.
Following Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement of a “comprehensive plan” to reduce immigration, the Institute of Directors (IoD) said the proposals could worsen already critical labour shortages across key sectors.
Alex Hall-Chen, principal policy adviser for skills and employment at the IoD, said: “These plans risk damaging already fragile economic growth by further limiting employers’ ability to fill urgent skills gaps. For this strategy to work, government must deliver on its pledge to more effectively link the skills and immigration systems and incentivise employers to invest in training programmes for the domestic workforce.”
Under the new plans, migrants entering the UK on all visa types will face tougher restrictions, with Starmer pledging that overall numbers will fall. But business leaders say that without swift reforms to how domestic workers are trained, these measures could leave employers without the skilled labour they need to compete and grow.
Stephen Phipson, chief executive of Make UK, the manufacturers’ organisation, said many firms only turn to overseas recruitment because of chronic failings in the UK’s domestic training pipeline.
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