Employers’ groups criticise immigration plans

The UK government has missed an opportunity to shelve its “arbitrary” goal to reduce net migration to the “tens of thousands”, two industry lobby groups have said.

The post-Brexit immigration rules outlined by home secretary Sajid Javid at the Conservative Party conference have taken a “wrong turn”, Carolyn Fairbairn, the director-general of the employers’ group the CBI has said.

The proposals include maintaining the government’s pledge to reduce migration to the “tens of thousands”, depriving European Union citizens’ of their preferential access to the UK labour market and prioritising high-skilled workers.