The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, seems to be keen to proceed with his party's policy of significantly reducing immigration into the UK. He clearly wishes to satisfy those for whom immigration was a key reason for voting for his party at this year's general election. But will this issue cause a split in the current ruling coalition?

Mr Cameron hinted at the scale of the reduction that he deems necessary in a recent speech. He said that he wanted net immigration to Britain to be in the tens of thousands, rather than hundreds of thousands. “Over recent years we’ve had net immigration into the UK of about 200,000, that is two million extra people every 10 years. That is unacceptably high and has got to be brought down, and I’m quite convinced that it’s possible to bring it down while making sure that business can access talent,” he added.

As part of the coalition agreement of May 2010, the Liberal Democrats decided to go along with the Conservative proposal to introduce a permanent cap on migrants from outside the European Union by April 2011. (The government has also introduced interim measures to avoid a rush of last-minute visa applications while old rules still apply). Members of the Lib Dems, however, have voiced their unhappiness with the extent of the proposed cap and many business feel that these new immigration policies will harm the country's competitiveness as it moves out of the global recession.

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Categories: United Kingdom, Home

Posted on: 20 Dec 2010 at 2:38pm by Graeme Fraser, modified on: 15 Apr 2011 at 3:18 pm