Mayor of London calls for a ‘Covid Recovery Visa’

16 Sep 2021, 26 mins ago

Speaking at a Bloomberg event on Tuesday Mr Khan highlighted the ‘huge strain’ put on certain industries by the new, post-Brexit immigration rules, which mean that businesses are unable to hire the staff they need.

Office of National Statistics figures show that job vacancies in London were over 20 percent higher in July of this year than in July 2020, rising significantly in sectors such as hospitality and construction.

The Mayor called on the Government to change its immigration system to make it more flexible, devolving powers to allow regional issues to be addressed. He highlighted the unique needs of London and called urgently for a ‘Covid Recovery Visa’ to attract international workers into key roles, and for a regional shortage occupation list to be drawn up to tackle the particular issues faced in the capital. Mr Khan also proposed extending the Youth Mobility Scheme to EU nationals.

Mr Khan stresses that such a system would be crucial to London’s economic competitiveness.

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