Britain's Home Secretary Sajid Javid arrives to attend the weekly meeting of the Cabinet at 10 Downing Street in central London on December 18, 2018. AFP / Tolga AKMEN
Home Secretary Sajid Javid will outline the U.K.’s plans for immigration after Brexit as Britain and the European Union step up their planning for a messy divorce without a deal.
Javid says immigration should be based on skills and needs of the U.K. economy
EU to set out contingency measures for a no-deal Brexit
May to take questions in the House of Commons at noon
Javid Says There Won’t Be a Migration Target (11:15 a.m.)
Javid said the government is looking for a compromise. He wants "sustainable” immigration that serves the needs of the U.K. economy but at the same time delivers the tighter controls on migrant numbers that pro-Brexit voters wanted.
"What we want to do is bring it to a level where it is sustainable in the sense that it meets first our economic need and at the same time though it is not too high a burden on our communities or on our infrastructure,” Javid said in interview with the BBC. "There is no specific target. It will be a system that will bring net migration down to more sustainable levels.”
There will be a consultation on the level of pay someone should receive to qualify as a "skilled” migrant, Javid said. The Migration Advisory Committee suggested a threshold of 30,000 pounds, but unions and politicians have warned this is below the pay level of many key workers in the health and elderly care systems, which rely on migrant labor.
