Training up UK workers may not cut immigration, Starmer is warned

Keir Starmer's plan to bring down UK net immigration by improving domestic training and skills is not guaranteed to work, the government's independent advisers have concluded.

- Rajeev Syal

The Migration Advisory Committee also said that the average migrant who comes to the UK on a skilled worker visa contributes 20 times more than the average UK-born adult.

An annual report from the body, released yesterday, challenges a main tenet of Labour's plans to cut net immigration, which increased to 906,000 in the year ending June 2023.

Starmer said in July he wanted to cut demand for overseas workers by linking training with migration policies. "We won't be content just to pull the easy lever of importing skills. We're turning the page on that," the prime minister said.

The committee's report said: "Linking immigration and skills policy is not a one-size-fits-all approach and it is important to consider the individual circumstances within sectors and occupations, including diagnosing whether shortages are genuinely driven by lack of skills or are because of poor pay and conditions.