Immigration rules are set to be loosened as part of Liz Truss’s mission to boost growth. The Prime Minister is expected to expand the Government’s shortage occupation list in order to help businesses fill vacancies by more easily recruiting overseas workers.
Ms Truss has faced industry demands for more migrant workers to be given visas to come to the UK, with labour shortages one of the main concerns voiced by employers across a range of sectors. Businesses have been frustrated that the visa system for skilled work has not been responsive enough to shortages they have experienced.
Downing Street did not deny that the Prime Minister is planning to liberalise routes to allow foreign workers to move to the UK, as first reported in The Sun. During her campaign for the Tory leadership, Ms Truss promised to tackle the labour shortages in farming – partly caused by post-Brexit freedom of movement restrictions and accentuated by the pandemic – with a short-term expansion to the seasonal workers scheme.
