Responding to publication of the Government’s Immigration White Paper, Mark Hilton, Policy Delivery Director at BusinessLDN, said:
“London’s role as a magnet for highly skilled workers, innovative entrepreneurs and international students is a source of competitive advantage for the UK that directly supports growth.
“The Prime Minister is right to say that the UK needs an immigration system that controls the flow of people across our borders and a greater focus on upskilling homegrown talent.
“Businesses in the capital are already investing significant sums in their UK skills base and we are also leading the London Local Skills Improvement Plan – in partnership with employers, training providers and policymakers – to help more people across the city into good jobs. The Government’s new growth and skills levy now needs to provide the flexibility businesses need to train the next generation as well as their current workforce.
“Boosting homegrown talent will take time so it’s vital that steps to reduce net migration figures are carefully targeted and do not prevent sectors that are critical to the Government’s growth mission from attracting the skills they need in the short-term to thrive. In particular, it will be vital that changes to study visa requirements are implemented in a way that does not undermine our world-leading higher education sector.”