CEP at Party Conferences 2017:
Labour Party Conference
5 October 2017
Immigration Minister Rt Hon Brandon Lewis stated that the government was not looking to push skilled workers to leave the UK but to implement changes for further down the line to meet the demand for less migration balanced with allowing the economy to prosper. The Minister also referred to the importance of the Migration Advisory Committee which will feed into final decisions. The second LSE fringe event had a migration focus and was entitled ‘Mind the Skills Gap. A migration trade off?’. Chaired by Prof. Tony Travers, the panelists included the Minister of State for Immigration Rt Hon. Brandon Lewis MP and LSE alumnus Syed Kamall MEP . They were joined by Dr Swati Dhingra, Vicky Price, LSE alumna and Board Member for CEBR and Caroline Artis, Senior London Partner at Ernst & Young.
The shadow Immigration Minister Paul Blomfield suggested that whilst the party has now started the immigration conversation it hasn't done it well to date at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton the week before. The Shadow Minister said that the door will not just shut on migration for industries like hospitality and healthcare. There was also a focus on the lack of adult education and suggested improvements and alternatives were discussed. The 'Mind the Skills Gap. A migration Trade off?' event panel included Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister for Industrial Strategy, Science and Innovation and Paul Blomfield MP the Shadow Minister for Exiting the European Union. Prof. Tony Travers chaired the event, and was joined by Dr Swati Dhingra and John Springfield, Centre for European Reform. The audience included, among others, journalists and lawyers.
Related links
Swati Dhingra CEP publications webpage: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/author.asp?author=dhingra