UK: Report suggests 'no preference' for EU workers

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON

Workers from the EU countries should not be treated differently but as the citizens of any country after Brexit, a new report said Tuesday.

The report published by the Migration Advisory Committee said free movement from the EU should end with the Brexit and the U.K. should adopt a migration system, which would offer no preferential access to the labor market for citizens of any other country.

The report, which came with a set of recommendations to the British government, also says the government should make it easier for high-skilled workers to settle in the country.

Under the EU rules, which the U.K. is still to abide by until Brexit that is to take place on March 29, 2019, or until the end of 2020 should a proposed transition period is agreed as part of the deal still being negotiated between the U.K. and the EU, workers from the 27 EU countries can travel freely and work with no restrictions in the U.K.

"If the U.K. is in a position where it is deciding the main features of its immigration policy, our recommendation is that there should be a less restrictive regime for higher-skilled workers than for lower-skilled workers in a system where there is no preference for EEA over non-EEA workers," the report said.

"Higher-skilled workers tend to have higher earnings so make a more positive contribution to the public finances," it added.

"The estimated labor market impacts, though small, also suggest that higher-skilled workers are of greater benefit as do any impacts on productivity and innovation."

A Home Office spokesperson said the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations in the latest report will be "carefully" considered before setting out further details on the country’s future immigration system.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday she is confident of reaching a deal with the European Union based on her Brexit plan -- known as Chequers -- which she outlined in July.

Speaking on BBC’s Panorama program, May said she would bring the plan to parliament for MPs to vote on probably in November but warned that the alternative to the Chequers plan is a no-deal scenario.

Under the Chequers plan, named after the prime minister's country retreat, where it was hashed out in July, the U.K. would accept a "common rulebook" for trade in all food and goods with the EU after Brexit and the U.K.’s continued harmonization with EU rules would be guaranteed with a treaty to be signed.

A hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland will be avoided, according to the proposal.

On Tuesday, May, with a message on Twitter, insisted the plans explained in government’s Brexit White Paper, would work both for the U.K. and the EU by delivering the 2016 referendum result and maintain good relations with the bloc.