An open door for migrants to work on Olympics (while 20,000 British builders are laid off)

Published 09th Jan 2010

A scheme to relax immigration laws to allow tens of thousands of unskilled workers to enter the country to build Olympic sites is being drawn up for ministers.

Migrant workers may be needed to complete the stadiums for the 2012 Games and also to work on separate engineering projects, Government advisers believe.

But the prospect of a new wave of immigration for construction schemes - at a time when the recession has seen nearly 200,000 construction workers laid off in the past year - provoked furious protests last night.

Projects which may need to draw in migrant workers - both unskilled and skilled - from outside Europe include the Crossrail tunnel in London, the High Speed Two railway line to the north, and the decommissioning of old nuclear and coalfired power stations.

Migrants may also be needed to prepare for a possible football World Cup in England in 2018, a paper drawn up by Home Office advisers suggests.

The proposals come at a time of deep sensitivity over immigration in the run-up to the election.

There is particular concern around the East London Olympic sites, where anxiety over the impact of immigration on jobs and housing has allowed the far-Right BNP to make in-roads into the traditional Labour vote.

An invitation to foreign workers to take part in showpiece projects would mean the abandonment of Labour's 'points based' immigration system upon which ministers are relying to cut immigration.

The system has already closed the door to unskilled labour from outside the European Union.

Gordon Brown said before Christmas that the points based system was being tightened to help give British workers the first chance of jobs.

The Prime Minister also said there was no further need to allow skilled civil engineers into the country from abroad.

But the Migration Advisory Committee - whose chief, Professor David Metcalf, has been talking closely with the Prime Minister - has now thrown doubt over the system.

It has sent a survey to companies and research groups, asking: 'Would the needs of large projects be sensibly met through immigration?' Respondents will be invited to assess skill shortages for the Olympics and other future sports events - an apparent reference to the possibility of a football World Cup in England in 2018.

Specifically, they will be asked if unskilled labour from outside Europe would be needed and which kinds of skilled labour could be provided by migrants.

Researchers will have to advise ministers on whether it is 'sensible to allow immigration to address a relatively short-term labour shortage'.

The advisory committee has asked for reports before the end of March to allow meetings with 'key stakeholders'.

It is also looking for guidance on whether immigration from outside Europe is needed to deal with general labour shortages in Britain.

The Home Office said last night that the assessment of the need for new migration had not been requested by ministers but by the Migration Advisory Committee itself.

Ministers will be given 'policy options' rather than ' recommendations' as a result of the research, he said.

Latest unemployment figures show that 187,000 jobs have been lost in construction in the past year as unemployment hit nearly 2.5million.

There are 70,000 unemployed adults in the seven East London boroughs closest to the Olympic sites.

Sir Andrew Green, of MigrationWatch, said: 'Has anybody told the Government's advisers we have unemployment of 2.5million and a serious skills shortage which people need to be trained to fill?

'Permitting employers to recruit immigrant labour off the shelf can only reduce the prospects for British workers.'

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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