SCOTTISH Secretary Alister Jack and Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross both refused to appear on the BBC to discuss how the UK’s post-Brexit migration laws were negatively impacting Scotland.
Ross, Jack, Scottish Office ministers Donald Cameron and John Lamont, and a “whole raft” of other Scots Tory figures refused to appear on the BBC’s Sunday Show while legal migration was to be discussed.
BBC host Martin Geissler called out the slew of Scottish Conservative politicians, adding: “But if the polls are right, the Tories might not be in charge of anything for much longer.”
The Sunday Show had reached out to Jack (below) and his party colleagues as it focused on the impact of UK-wide immigration rules on Scotland.
Regional economic development professor Donald Houston appeared on the show to discuss the impact of post-Brexit immigration on Scotland and the workforce issues it is having.
Houston said the problems were particularly acute in the north west Highlands, going on: “That's where we've seen some of the biggest issues across the whole of the UK in terms of labour shortages and the scale of the shrinkage in the size of the workforce.
“So there's issues, broader long-term issues around developing places and investing in places.
“Scotland and the UK isn't as good at that as many other European countries who spend much larger sums of money on balanced regional economic development. So, creating jobs in places that will encourage young people to stay in those places is part of the long-term solution.”
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Jo de Sylva, who runs a hospitality business in Inverness, said it was proving “just impossible” to fill the number of vacancies in the industry.
“The people just aren't there,” she said, “and we know that pubs are struggling. They are really struggling.
“To give you an indication of how they're struggling, over 3000 hospitality venues closed last year, which is a huge, huge number, and Scotland is disproportionately affected by some of the decisions Westminster have made.”
New UK immigration laws mean that a person will need to be in a job earning more than £38,700 a year in order to qualify for a visa – a pay bracket above what many hospitality workers would earn.
Michael Shanks (above), a Labour shadow Scotland Office minister, refused to back anything other than a one-size-fits-all approach to UK immigration – despite experts saying the challenges from such a policy were more acute in Scotland.
Geissler asked: “Why not devolve it to Holyrood? Scotland's got this unique crisis, this absolutely specific need for more people that's unpopular in key electoral areas south of the Border. One-size-fits-all isn't working at the moment. Why not just give it to Holyrood?
Shanks responded: “Because we're part of a United Kingdom and immigration is a reserved issue, and when you think about where the UK border is, it's right that that's a one-system approach.”
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