THE arrogance of the Westminster Conservative Government is somewhat breath-taking considering we all need to eat and have housing. I speak of the new points-based immigration system just introduced by the Westminster Government to take cognisance of Brexit.
Scotland has special needs with an ageing population and a skills shortage, yet there has been no consideration of Scotland’s needs. The Scottish Government have set ambitious targets for our food and drink, fishing and farming sectors by 2030, and with the introduction of this points-based immigration system those targets could now be in jeopardy.
The food chain is a massive source of tourism for Scotland and contributes massively to the economy of the country through exports, yet all that will be put at risk if Scotland under the UK immigration rules finds it impossible to attract enough EU migrant workers under the Agricultural Workers Scheme, which allows 10,000 EU nationals a year to come to the UK for seasonal work. This figure is massively underestimating the numbers actually required in Scotland alone, never mind the rest of the UK.
With regard to us all requiring housing, is the Westminster Government putting its own target to build one million homes in the lifetime of this parliament in jeopardy? Has a risk assessment been carried out regarding the impact on availability of construction workers to meet this target?
Finally, regarding us all living longer, living in an ageing population when “care” is required to allow many vulnerable people to have some form of independent living in their own home, the UK Government’s points system in no way addresses the future crisis looming for us all in our later years regarding care needs.
The points system has a minimum wage requirement of £25,600 (the UK Government was forced to reduce this from their original requirement of £30,000) to receive any points – a very attractive figure for those working in our care sector, but unfortunately a fantasy figure for our care workers, despite the vital work they carry out.
Our NHS will feel the pain and consequences of bed-blocking which will inevitably follow the shortage of care workers available to visit patients in their own homes.
Immigration is vital to Scotland’s future economy and ageing population, yet despite calls from the Holyrood government to devolve immigration, Westminster has arrogantly gone ahead with this points-based system which is quite simply not suited to Scotland’s needs and demonstrates yet another aspect of Brexit that has not been thought through, leaving businesses and the vulnerable with no secure future, no firm foundation for future planning.
Yet Scotland did not vote for Brexit, Scotland did not vote for this Conservative government who are arrogantly imposing policies that are harmful to Scotland, and Scotland deserves better.
Catriona C Clark
Falkirk
THE First Minister is correct in predicting that “Tory immigration plans are ‘devastating’ for Scotland” (February 20), but they are an anomaly in themselves as they will have a negative effect everywhere.
Why does the government want companies to spend money training UK workers for the low-paid, low-skilled jobs, while importing fully trained workers for their high-paid, high-skill jobs?
Do they intend to make the UK into a permanent pool of cheap unskilled labour, a highly profitable, low-tax haven for multinationals who have their own core of highly trained and skilled permanent staff employed in other countries?
As always with the Tories, a party that knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing, the system bases the criterion for immigration to the UK on the market value of an individual’s skills instead of their value to the community as a whole.
Accepting that there are shortages in the NHS, what is the point of recruiting high-paid, high-skilled medical staff such as surgeons from overseas if there are not enough low-paid, high-skilled staff to clean the wards and theatres to the high standards that are essential in our hospitals?
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
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