Motion to Highland council on UK government proposals on immigration
7th March 2019
Motion to Highland council from the leader of the council Margaret Davidson on 7th March 2019
"The Council expresses concern over the proposals set out in the UK Government's White Paper on immigration, particularly that there will be no regional variation and that the salary threshold for skilled workers will remain at £30,000. This will have a significant detrimental impact on the Highlands.
To address the demographic challenges facing the area and to meet the employment and skills needs of businesses, we need to be able to attract people to live and work in the Highlands.
We therefore call on the UK Government to develop an effective and responsive migration policy that recognises and responds to regional disparity which would enable the region to achieve its potential and make a full contribution towards Scottish and UK economic growth.
In particular, such a migration policy needs to recognise that migration can benefit communities, particularly those in remote areas, by retaining community capacity and resilience as well as ensuring continued provision of vital local services, such as health and education".
Signed: Mrs M Davidson Mr D Macpherson
The immigration paper from the UK government can be seen at
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/766465/The-UKs-future-skills-based-immigration-system-print-ready.pdf
You can hear what Cllr Margaret Davidson had to say on the web cast at https://highland.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/374561
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