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Article published Sep 9, 2007
Britain halts immigration


September 9, 2007


By Patrick Hennessy - LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

LONDON - Tens of thousands of immigrant workers will be forced to learn 
English before they are allowed into Britain under a plan Prime Minister 
Gordon Brown is expected to announce tomorrow in a speech to the Trades 
Union Congress in Brighton, informed sources revealed yesterday.

The rules, expected to reduce the number of people entering Britain by at 
least 35,000 a year, will affect those from countries outside the European 
Union who are seeking to work and settle permanently in Britain.

"Those who we welcome into the UK to work and settle here need to understand 
our traditions and feel that they are part of our shared national culture," 
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said. "They need to integrate into our country, 
learn English and use our language."

Mr. Brown's aides said the initiative will form a "key plank" of the Labor 
Party government's new policy on immigration. It will be seen as another 
shift to the right following the prime minister's moves to block 
supercasinos and to review the decision to reclassify cannabis as a less 
dangerous drug.

The new policy will present opposition leader David Cameron with a dilemma: 
If he attacks Mr. Brown's plan, he risks once again angering his "core 
support" among right-of-center voters. Mr. Cameron is trying to reposition 
the Conser-vatives as a modern, compassionate party and has shied from 
referring to immigration.

Under the government's new "points" system, there are three main categories 
of immigrants coming to Britain from outside the European Union to work - 
highly skilled, skilled and low-skilled workers. The first two groups 
eventually can settle permanently in Britain; the third group cannot.

Highly skilled migrants have been forced to learn English as a condition of 
entry since last December. However, Mr. Brown and Mrs. Smith will announce 
this week that the condition will be extended to all skilled migrants, who 
numbered 96,000 last year.

According to government source, about 35,000 of them would not have passed a 
test for speaking English. They will be now be expected to speak, write and 
understand English to a standard equivalent to passing secondary school in 
Britain with grades A to C, obtaining proof either by passing an 
internationally recognized English test or showing they have a university 
degree from a course taught in English.

Mr. Brown and Mrs. Smith also will announce a review of whether the new 
restrictions should be extended to low-skilled workers, such as fruit 
pickers, even though they are not allowed to settle permanently in Britain.

The new rules will have only a handful of exemptions, likely to include 
international soccer players signed by Premier League clubs who will be 
allowed in for "practical reasons," said government sources.

The new policy builds on a previous speech by Mr. Brown, in which he 
stressed his preference for training unemployed and low-skilled Britons to 
fill the country's skills gap rather than relying on additional migrants.

"At present, people who seek to come to the UK permanently, or as highly 
skilled workers, are required to speak English. We want to go further and 
make speaking English a requirement for all those coming into the UK to do 
lesser-skilled work, and we will be looking at extending this requirement to 
those who come to the UK to do low-skilled work as well," Mrs. Smith said.

Statistics show that immigrants who speak English competently are far more 
likely to succeed in the British labor market than those who do not. 
Government estimates suggest the likely earnings of migrant workers who 
speak English are about 20 percent higher than those who don't.

Shortly before he became prime minister in June, Mr. Brown said at a trade 
union conference: "It is time to train British workers for the British jobs 
that will be available over the coming few years and to make sure that 
people who are inactive and unemployed are able to get the new jobs on offer 
in our country."



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