BORIS Johnson has said Britain’s post-Brexit immigration system will be fairer and will “put people before passports”.
There is expected to be no freedom of movement between the UK and EU when the Brexit transition period ends on December 31.
However, the Prime Minister told the UK-Africa Investment Summit that immigration would become “fairer … treating people the same wherever they come from”.
READ MORE: Ministers warn Australian-style immigration system will cost Scotland
The UK Government wants to introduce a points-based system – similar to that used in Australia – by January next year, where people who want to work in the UK would be assigned points depending on a series of professional and personal traits, such as levels of education.
Under the current system of free movement, citizens of EU countries do not need a visa to work here, but immigrants from outside the bloc are graded on English language skills, sponsorship by a company and meeting salary thresholds.
Johnson said the post-Brexit system in the UK would become “more equal”.
He said: “By putting people before passports we will be able to attract the best talent from around the world, wherever they may be.”
However, Nazek Ramadan, director of Migrant Voice, said: “We are concerned that such a system could wrest power away from employers and employees (surely those best placed to decide who should fill a job vacancy), handing it to a Government that has so far been hostile to all migrants who aren’t considered the ‘best and brightest’, and could lead to racial, gender and age discrimination.
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“Instead we need a system that does not gatekeep based on any particular number – whether that’s a salary or an accumulation of points – but one guided by the jobs and workers available, one where migrant workers have all the same rights as British workers and where those rights are enforced.
“A points-based system is simply a crude, subjective and unhelpfully narrow way of assessing a person’s value.
“Migrant Voice has spoken out many times against any kind of salary threshold, which reduces a person’s value to their income – and a points-based system is little better.”
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