U.K. may ease immigration curbs

By Thomas Abraham

LONDON, SEPT. 15. Britain took the first steps toward reversing the 30-year-old policy of restricted immigration with a Government Minister suggesting that skilled professionals should be given incentives including citizenship, to settle in Britain. A Home Office Minister, Ms Barbara Roche, signalled a shift in the closed door policy that Britain has followed since 1971 by proposing a number of ways to attract talented people into the country.

In a speech to the Institute of Policy Research, Ms Roche confronted the prevalent anti-immigrant mood in the country by pointing out that by the year 2050, a quarter of the population would be over the age of 65, and that immigration would be one way to reverse this demographic time bomb. She also said that since the early 1970's, the numbers of those leaving the country had exceeded those coming in.

This is the most positive speech to come from the current Government on immigration, and could help to reverse what many feel is a growing wave of xenophobia triggered by the large number of asylum seekers trying to enter Britain. Both the Opposition Conservative party, and the ruling Labour party have tried to win popular support by taking a hard line against asylum seekers, and by playing on public fears that they were being ``swamped by bogus asylum seekers.``

Ms Roche tried to draw a distinction between the debate on ``asylum seekers who have no real fear of persecution'' and qualified professionals. But critics say the Government will find it difficult to maintain what is increasingly an artificial distinction between asylum seekers who try to get into Britain to improve their economic prospects, and skilled people who are invited to come into the country.

Often there are doctors and professionals in the ranks of asylum seekers, but current British procedures are geared to getting them out of the country. At the same time, Britain faces a shortage of doctors and will have to recruit from abroad to fill gaps in the National Health Service.

As The Guardian columnist, Mr. Francis Wheen, pointed out, the Government proposals could mean throwing qualified asylum seekers out of the country, and then welcoming the same people into the country again as Government-sponsored professionals.

Whatever its shortcomings, the shift in attitude brings Britain in line with countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States which encouraged immigration of skilled workers. It also reverses the thrust of the 1971 Immigration Act, which was intended to keep immigration ``to a small and inescapable minimum.'' The 1971 Act was passed against the background of fears that the country was going to be ``swamped'' by immigrants. Since then, Britain has evolved into a multicultural society, but there remains a core of suspicion towards immigrants which surfaces when asylum seekers are caught trying to enter illegally.

At the same time, there are growing demands for Britain to loosen the restrictions imposed by the 1971 Act. As The Times pointed out in an editorial, ``Britain, whose flexible labour markets and globally used language should make it a magnet for talent, has been losing out in the worldwide race to attract mobile skills and energy.''

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Section  : International
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