The former UK home and education secretary David Blunkett has backed calls for skilled migrants to train British workers in an effort to improve public feeling towards immigration.
A report by the Good Growth Foundation, a thinktank with links to Labour ministers, has called for the creation of a visa route where skilled migrants spend part of their time mentoring and training British workers.
Polling showed the proposal for a “work and teach” visa reduced significant public concern about immigration by 18 points and overall concern by 12 points.
Asked how concerned voters were about how immigration will impact workers in the UK in 2029, 40% of respondents said they were very concerned, 27% said they were somewhat concerned and 25% not very or at all concerned.
But when asked to envision a “work and teach” visa where migrants coming to the UK are required to train British workers in their sector, the proportion of those who said they were very concerned dropped to 22%. A further 33% said they would be somewhat concerned and 35% said they were not very or at all concerned.
Voters were told the programme would require skilled migrants to spend part of their time mentoring and training British workers, and would be targeted at sectors with a labour shortage.
David Blunkett. Photograph: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
Blunkett, who was a Labour home secretary between 2001 and 2004, said the proposal to directly link immigration to better skills training for workers was “a serious, pragmatic plan to ‘take back control’ in the truest sense – not through slogans or scapegoating, but by giving people real power over their own lives and the confidence of aspiration once again”.
“The public’s unease about immigration cannot be separated from their frustration about opportunity. When people feel locked out of progress, resentment grows; when they see investment in skills and prospects, confidence returns,” he added.
The proposal was made as part of a report on skills and immigration that has been sent to ministers before the budget in November. In the report’s foreword, Blunkett, who is also a former work and pensions secretary, wrote that skills policy was “not an add-on” but “the foundation of a fair, confident and productive country”.
As part of his cabinet reshuffle last month, Keir Starmer moved the skills brief from the Department for Education to the Department for Work and Pensions headed by Pat McFadden, in what strategists said was an attempt to shake up and prioritise skills policy.
In September, Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, set out plans for immigrants to prove they were contributing to society to earn the right to remain in the UK.
In her speech to the Labour party conference, Mahmood said she would introduce new conditions for migrants to qualify for indefinite leave to remain, including learning English to a high standard, having a clean criminal record and volunteering in their community.
Ministers announced last week that from next year some skilled workers would need to speak English to an A-level standard to qualify for visas.
Praful Nargund, the director of the Good Growth Foundation, said: “You can’t out-Farage Farage. We need a progressive vision on immigration which welcomes contribution and commitment to our country while opening up opportunity here in Britain too.”
“Linking immigration and skills reform flips the narrative from pressures to partnership, giving new arrivals and British workers the chance to work together to fix our country.”
