MAC Report Opportunity to Prove Government Commitment to UK Tech

27 Jul 2017 02:34 PM

Commenting on the Home Secretary's Commission to the Migration Advisory Committee, Deputy CEO states advice must not be "skin deep"

Yesterday, the Government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) commissioned to undertake a study which covers both the impacts on the United Kingdom labour market of the UK’s exit from the European Union and also how the UK’s immigration system should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy.

Commenting on the Home Secretary's Commission, techUK’s Deputy CEO, Antony Walker, said:

“This study has been a long time coming, but could not be more important. Research this week shows the number of EU tech applicants has already dropped 10%. Brexit is having an impact on recruitment, and that will have an impact on our ability to compete. The Migration Advisory Committee has a critical role in preventing the serious economic damage that will occur if we restrict access to international tech talent.

“The tech sector is creating jobs faster than we can fill them, and for every ten high skilled roles, the sector creates four more jobs elsewhere in the economy. Our ability to create the jobs of the future is directly tied to our ability to recruit the best and brightest from across the EU and the world. Overly focusing on numbers of immigrants will not help our economy or innovative tech businesses. We would not tell factories how many tractors to produce each year, and so the MAC report should not seek to do the same to talent and skills.

“The Government’s manifesto explicitly singles out the digital economy as a ‘strategically important sector’. The MAC report provides an opportunity to prove that this commitment is not skin deep. This will rely on an open, flexible EU immigration system post-Brexit.”