Businesses should be using more robots instead of hiring low-paid migrants, the shadow home secretary has told the BBC. The Conservative MP Chris Philp says other countries “use a lot more automation” for tasks such as picking fruit and vegetables “rather than simply importing a lot of low-wage migrant labour”. Speaking on BBC Breakfast, he called for more investment in technology to reduce the UK’s net migration figures.

Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law is often called on to comment in the press on business and work immigration.

Asked to comment in HR Magazine, Managing Partner Vanessa Ganguin said: “we are a long way off replacing sectors of the workforce with robots as Chris Philp suggests. Indeed, the UK’s growing tech sector needs more highly-skilled tech talent from around the world to fulfil such dreams, and the Home Secretary has commissioned a review of talent shortages in IT.

“It is a shame that in opposition Philp and his colleagues are still perpetuating such myths and that the current Government isn’t brave enough to counter them properly by acknowledging the crucial role of immigration for UK employers in nearly every sector, for growth and reducing the burdens of inflation and taxation.”

Keir Starmer’s Labour government’s emphasis on reducing immigration is very different from Tony Blair’s, which encouraged employers to hire workers at all skill levels from abroad to encourage UK growth. Where they may differ from their Conservative predecessors is in a commitment to deliver evidence-based policy.

Skills England is set to work alongside the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), Industrial Strategy Council, Department for Work and Pensions and others to develop a strategy to address skills shortages in the UK. The MAC’s role in this is to incorporate immigration into the strategy, including how international recruitment is used to fill those shortages while considering the needs of resident workers. The committee is currently conducting a review of skills shortages in IT and communications professions at the behest of the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. As the Home Secretary indicated that this may be the first of a series of reviews for different sectors, businesses in other sectors may wish to keep abreast of any further reviews that may be commissioned in the near future.

The UK Government is also set to tackle abuses such as employers sponsoring workers on less than minimum wage and the sort of exploitation that has seen 450 sponsor licences recently revoked in the care sector in the upcoming Employment Rights Bill.

Anyone concerned about any of these or other immigration issues can contact us on 0207 033 9527 or [email protected]  .