Care system will suffer under UK immigration plan - Forbes

Scotland's lawman archetypal curate says she is successful "no doubt" that the country's attraction strategy volition endure from UK authorities plans to tighten migration rules.

Kate Forbes said Scotland needed to instrumentality a "distinct approach" to the remainder of the UK.

It came aft Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said his authorities would "take backmost control" of UK borders arsenic helium outlined plans to chopped nett migration.

This includes proposals to chopped the recruitment of attraction workers from overseas and tighten English connection requirements for immigrants.

Forbes said she listened with "absolute astonishment" to reports that the UK authorities wanted to chopped the recruitment of overseas attraction workers.

She told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme the proposals were "baffling" to those moving successful the industry.

The lawman archetypal curate said: "I americium successful nary uncertainty whatsoever that our attraction strategy is going to endure from the changes that reportedly are going to beryllium made today."

She said Scotland faced "demographic challenges", and that "one of the astir pressing issues that investors, developers, nationalist services archer america close present is being capable to enlistee a workforce".

Forbes said: "With a tiny colonisation of astir 5 cardinal people, Scotland needs a chiseled migration system, a chiseled attack to the migration system, we person shared that with the UK government."

She told the programme this could perchance beryllium done utilizing a abstracted "Scottish visa" - thing that the UK authorities previously said it was not considering.

The lawman archetypal curate besides raised concerns astir plans to enforce stricter standards connected postgraduate visas "when we cognize truthful overmuch of Scotland's economical maturation has travel from planetary students that person chosen to beryllium based successful Scotland".

Announcing his plans, Sir Keir said that from 2019 to 2023 nett migration "quadrupled" nether the erstwhile Conservative administration, reaching a grounds precocious of astir 1 cardinal successful the twelvemonth to 2023.

He said this is astir the size of the metropolis of Birmingham, the UK's 2nd largest city.

"That's not control, it's chaos," helium told a quality conference.

Under the White Paper proposals, migrants volition person to walk 10 years successful the UK earlier being capable to use for citizenship, but alleged "high-contributing" individuals specified arsenic doctors and nurses could beryllium fast-tracked done the system.

Language requirements volition beryllium accrued for each migration routes to guarantee a higher level of English.

Rules volition besides beryllium laid retired for big dependants, meaning that they volition person to show a basal knowing of the language.

Meanwhile, skilled idiosyncratic visas volition necessitate a assemblage degree, and determination volition beryllium tighter restrictions connected recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.

Sir Keir said: "Let maine enactment it this way, nations beryllium connected rules, just rules.

"In a divers federation similar ours, and I observe that these rules go adjacent much important without them, we hazard becoming an land of strangers, not a federation that walks guardant together."