Labour and the Liberal Democrats also condemned the plans while Unison, which represents health workers said they “spell absolute disaster for the care sector”.
• UK borders will be closed to non-skilled workers – and all migrants will have to speak English.
• There will be no route for self-employed people coming into the UK, spelling the end to, for example, Polish plumbers or Romanian builders arriving without a job.
This, it is understood, is an attempt to clamp down on non-EU workers beating the system with forged or stolen ID cards.
• The skills threshold for foreign nationals wanting to work in the UK will be lowered from degree to A-levels or their equivalent.
The cap on the numbers of skilled workers is being scrapped – and a small number of highly skilled workers will be allowed to come in without a job.
However, the new policy drew immediate criticism from employers, particularly over the addition of waiters, waitresses and “elementary” agriculture and fishery workers to the list of low-skilled workers. »
