“Finally the government is starting to demonstrate some common sense when it comes to immigration. The NHS is reliant on staff from overseas to keep the lights on in hospitals around the country and setting an arbitrary cap on trusts’ ability to access the workers they need was ludicrous.
“Our data and feedback from recruiters show the UK has a shortage of candidates in a whole range of industries. This move will be extremely welcome to employers in sectors like engineering and IT as it will increase their ability to secure top talent from abroad.
“The need for foreign workers is only going to increase as the baby boomer generation retires so as well as investing in training for British people we need the government to take a pragmatic, sensible approach to immigration, not cling to policies driven more by ideology than evidence. An obvious next move would be to remove students from the overall immigration figures.
“What we really need now is a clear, constructive post-Brexit immigration policy – something we are still waiting to see even in draft form – but this is certainly a step in the right direction.”
