The UK’s care sector needs workers from abroad, but rightwing MPs want to slash immigration to save face – whatever the cost
Britain’s national health service is, by any definition, facing a turning point. It needs help, not hindrance. Of the many stress points, the inability to move mostly older patients between hospitals and care homes is perhaps the most extreme. The principal reason has been the shortage of 165,000 workers in the care sector, or about 11% of its labour force. Crucial to this service has been the temporary visa scheme for care workers and home carers introduced last year, after EU recruitment was crippled by Brexit. About 58,000 new workers have come in under the scheme. The care sector depends on these workers, which means so do the hospitals dependent on moving patients into care.
Enter the proposal by a small group of rightwing Tory MPs complaining that the overall level of immigration into the UK has eroded public trust in the government. They want to cut the number of care home visas, thereby reducing immigration, so they say, by 82,000 people. It is like preparing for the Battle of the Somme by slashing infantry numbers. The MPs also want to cut the number of overseas students and their dependents, raise the income threshold for visas to other British jobs, and limit incoming refugees. Overall, they say, this should more than halve immigration, which in turn should make people feel better in “red wall” seats. They do not ask how people would feel in hospitals and care homes.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
