Sajid Javid has signalled a welcome new approach to immigration
Sajid Javid faced an unenviable inbox when he arrived at the Home Office following the downfall of his predecessor, Amber Rudd.
The Windrush scandal, security fears, police pay and immigration all compete for ministerial attention, and headlines. This to-do list typifies the Home Office brief, combining crises that flare up and dominate with legacy issues and contentious policy positions.
It’s understood that when Javid was asked by Theresa May to become home secretary, he made it clear that he wanted room to manoeuvre, having seen his predecessor buckle under the weight of policies implemented by May. Javid has more liberal tendencies than the Prime Minister, and her commitment to reducing net migration to the tens of thousands was never going to sit easily with the new home secretary.
In his first major broadcast interview yesterday, Javid offered only lukewarm support for this policy, going as far as he could without throwing his boss under a bus. On specific areas of immigration policy, there were also encouraging signs. The visa system for skilled professional (known as Tier 2) will be reviewed. This is long overdue, as the current annual cap of 20,700 high-earning workers was hit in each of the last five months.
In other words, highly-skilled professionals are seeking visas to fill roles in our economy, and being turned away. In the first quarter of this year, over 6,000 applications were turned down from professionals including tech and IT specialists, scientists and doctors. This is madness at the best of times, but with the eyes of the world on Brexit Britain, and with businesses needing all the support they can get, restricting access to top international talent is nothing short of perverse.
Javid’s recognition that the situation requires attention, and the revelation that he has support in cabinet for reforming the system, is welcome news. Javid also wants to “look again” at the prospect of removing international students from the government’s net migration target, which would be a bold and important move. May has stuck to the policy ever since her time at the Home Office, holding out against the likes of former chancellor George Osborne.
If Javid can oversee a policy shift, there’s a good chance that our immigration system, post-Brexit, may yet be fit for purpose.