'Absolute folly': John Swinney slams plans to overhaul immigration and axe care worker visas

John Swinney has branded the UK government’s plans to overhaul immigration and abolish care worker visas as “absolute folly”.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will be setting out her government’s “fundamental shift” to bring down net migration later this week.

Immigration and border control signs at Edinburgh Airport. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell | Getty Images

This includes banning many companies from recruiting from abroad and “substantially” reducing the number of low-skilled visas on offer.

Speaking to BBC programme Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Ms Cooper said the immigration system must be linked to skills and training. She said previous immigration strategies had been a “failed free market experiment”.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire | Stefan Rousseau/Press Association.

“The Conservatives replaced free movement and employers were effectively encouraged to recruit from wherever they wanted, with a 20 per cent discount on wages if they recruited from overseas rather than training here in the UK,” she said. “That’s a broken approach and it saw training cut.

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“We are switching that round to bring in new visa controls on low-skilled migration to bring that down and new requirements for workforce strategy training commitments to get people not working back into the labour market here in the UK.”

The proposals include issuing 50,000 fewer low-skilled visas and improving standards and compliance for universities recruiting international students.

Extra regulations will also include scrapping care worker visas. The home secretary said those who were already in the UK on a care worker visa could have this extended, but employers should stop recruiting from abroad.

Ms Cooper insisted there was already a big enough pool of foreign workers in the UK to recruit from.

Some industries like construction will be excluded from these changes, but the UK government hopes the move will lead to most employers training people in the UK instead of recruiting from overseas.

In Scotland, however, the First Minster said this strategy undermined economic opportunity north of the Border.

John Swinney has spoken movingly about his struggle to decide how to vote on the assisted dying Bill (Picture: Andy Buchanan/pool) | Andy Buchanan

Mr Swinney told the BBC’s The Sunday Show: “This Labour Government is running scared of Nigel Farage, and that’s what this white paper appears to be about. There is a positive argument for immigration supporting economic growth and economic opportunity.

“This is all presented on the terms of Farage and the Labour Party is walking right into that.”

Mr Swinney said the SNP had presented alternative proposals for migration to the UK government, but suggested these had been “thrown aside”.

He said: “One argument that is widely supported by the business community, universities and across the political spectrum is for students to be able to come to Scotland and stay longer to make an economic contribution.

“Some of the greatest inventions and innovations in our economy have come from international students coming to Scotland, staying on and starting a business, and that door will be shut.

“That’s absolute folly and undermines economic opportunity. There is widespread consensus that we need that in the economy and the UK government is saying no.

“This is another reason we should be taking our own decisions on immigration.”

Elsewhere shadow UK home secretary Chris Philp said the proposals were “too little”, but conceded the previous Conservative government also did not do enough to bring down net migration.

His party is now due to force a vote in Westminster on introducing an annual cap on migration numbers, claiming that having low-skilled migrants coming to the UK has been bad for the economy and for unemployment rates.

This comes only a month after Scottish Care said the industry was on its knees and faces collapse within three months.

Dr Donald Macaskill, chief executive of the industry body, said there were a number of actors leading to this, including immigration controls limiting the ability to hire staff.

The Scottish Greens are also warning the UK Government’s anti-migration policies will “hammer” Scotland’s public services.

Gillian Mackay MSP said: “This is a cruel and totally self-defeating policy that will only serve to hammer Scotland’s services.

Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay introduced the Safe Access Zones Act. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire | Jane Barlow/Press Association.

“There have been warnings of staff shortages from the care sector and others, and these policies will only make them more severe.

“It is extremely cynical politics.

“Nigel Farage just has to say ‘jump’ and Labour will ask how high.

“We cannot allow our immigration policy to be set by the far-right priorities of Reform, and trying to imitate them won’t help anyone.

“Labour has kept a lot of the most hostile anti-migrant Tory policies in place and doubled down on a failed Brexit that they know has hiked up prices, cost jobs and undermined our right to travel.”