This morning new strict immigration proposals were leaked to the Guardian newspaper, and reported extensively as a commitment to end free movement of workers from the EU, the Adam Smith Institute damns the move as creating a potential economic disaster for the United Kingdom. 

Sam Bowman, Executive Director of the Adam Smith Institute, says if implemented the leaked proposals would undermine British businesses and public services:

"The government’s migration plans would be a disaster if implemented. The Home Office has shown again and again that it isn’t capable of dealing with non-EU immigration effectively – as orders to leave the country wrongly sent to long-time British residents prove. Extending this sort of system to EU immigration will massively drive up waiting times, uncertainty and bureaucracy facing businesses and public services who need to hire foreign workers. Requirements that firms prove that they have tried to hire British workers first don’t work in other countries, they just add bureaucracy and costs.

"EU migrants do not harm native wages or job prospects, and they pay more in taxes than they cost in benefits, effectively subsidising British public services. Curbing their numbers substantially will mean higher taxes or deeper spending cuts just to keep the public finances at their current level, and public services that rely on foreign workers – like schools and the NHS – will face shortages of key workers and need to cut spending on frontline services to fill in the gaps."

In order to arrange any further comment, or to arrange an interview about this topic please do get in touch with Matt Kilcoyne via phone (07584778207) or email matt@adamsmith.org