Immigrants wanting to build a new life in the UK must have a recognised skill to offer, must master the English language, and must pay their way through taxes, according to the CBI.
As immigration continues to be a key topic in the general election campaign, the CBI said it backed a policy of managed migration, which “meets the needs of the UK labour market, while remaining at a level that enables immigrants to be successfully integrated into society”.
But the employers’ body made clear that it takes no position on asylum and refugee status.
It seemed to tentatively back the Labour approach of a points system to decide whether or not economic migrants should be allowed to stay, saying such as system “may prove a flexible and effective way of managing the flow of economic migrants”.
Sir Digby Jones, director general of the CBI, said: “The words ‘managed’ and ‘controlled’ are not irrelevant or mere sops to public opinion. Any government must show by its actions that they have a real meaning.”
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