Immigration -- three years after

I began my blog with an argument about the shallowness of 'free movement' and how it meant importing low cost,precarious and non-unionised labour. The Government has now announced plans for its 'points-based' system to accept skilled immigrants wherever they live. The Graun has been totally hostile up to now, in that aggressive moralistic liberal way, but now seeks higher ground and journalistic respectability, as argued below:

When Boris Johnson and Priti Patel promised an “Australian-style points system” last year, their plans were largely vacuous. The Conservative government subsequently commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on the shape that Britain’s future immigration system should take. Johnson and Patel probably didn’t expect the MAC’s outgoing chair, Professor Alan Manning, to dismiss talk of their Australian-style points system as, aptly, “pointless”. For good measure, the report also notes that the UK has far more to learn from Austria – where skilled migrants are generally required to have a job offer – than it does from Australia, where many are not.

some in lower-paying sectors such as hospitality and food processing, especially outside London, will still face a big shock.  [And care work]...the problem is that care workers aren’t paid enough because the care system has been persistently underfunded and that the government shouldn’t use immigration as a way of dodging these issues. [says MAC]

Businesses (particularly small ones) will suddenly find there are Home Office forms to fill in, fees to pay, and time-consuming bureaucracy to navigate

[Overall] will we move into a new era, in which global Britain will benefit from skills and talent from all over the world, rather than simply sucking in cheap labour from the rest of Europe? The answer is likely to be somewhere in between....For some people, at least, ending freedom of movement - and hence restoring “control” over immigration - may be more important than guaranteeing lower numbers of migrants....So there are grounds for at least cautious optimism. Contrary to the hopes and fears of many, Brexit looks less like it will make a decisive turn towards restricting immigration. Instead, consistent with the more benign aspects of our history, it may signal a different form of openness.