Prime Minister announced immigration changes on Monday
Sir Keir Starmer announced changes to the system on Monday in a Downing Street address, including making migrants wait 10 years rather than five to apply for settlement or citizenship, increasing required standards of English for those coming to the UK and tightening tests on colleges and universities offering places to foreign students.
Speaking to the media, the Prime Minister said the UK risked becoming an “island of strangers”.
But responding to his comments and the associated White Paper published on Monday, John Swinney accused the Prime Minister of being “terrified” of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage – a frequent critic of immigration policy.
“Nigel Farage could have delivered that speech this morning.
“I can’t believe that Keir Starmer found himself able to deliver that speech which just totally contradicts everything he’s ever said in the past.
“He’s obviously terrified of Nigel Farage.”
The First Minister has put the perceived threat of Reform UK in Scotland – where the party seems on track to return up to a dozen MSPs in next year’s Holyrood elections if polls come to fruition – front and centre of his party’s campaign.
The SNP, the First Minister said, would “confront” Mr Farage, not “cosy up” to him.
Sir Keir’s announcement, where he said the new system would be “controlled, selective and fair”, would be “deeply damaging” for the Scottish economy, Mr Swinney claimed.
Scotland’s working age population has been declining in recent years as Scots get older and it is projected to fall further, with the SNP-led Scottish Government pushing for looser immigration rules north of the border.
The First Minister said: “There will be a huge impact on employment in the National Health Service and on social care.
“The announcements today from the UK Government are going to make that even more difficult and there’s going to be some significant opportunities lost for the Scottish economy by the implications of these announcements.
Under the plans, the length of time students are allowed to remain in the UK after their studies will be reduced from two years to 18 months.
Top of page: First Minister John Swinney leaving a meeting with Prime MInister Sir Keir Starmer.
England is most certainly riven with a hatred of foreigners. Sadly the same sentiment, albeit to a lesser extent is extant in Scotland.
For far too many the driver of this hatred to foreigners is the popular belief that all immigrants are young male boat type people or white hating islamacists waging jihad.
Indeed, our very own Humza Yousaf inculcated that view in his fevered parliamentary white, white, white rant. And of course such a rant reinforces the perception of a certain religious group that do not integrate.
But immigration is a much more complex thing than the popular perception of Islamic jihadiis come to Rape our women, kill us and or steel our jobs and take our benefits.
Immigration includes people from all ethnicities, colour, creeds and skill sets.Doctors, nurses, cancer specialists, specialist engineers are all examples of the hated immigrants that we don’t want.
Locally in the West of Scotland the NHS has list many skilled consultants due to Brexit. But that is good. I mean who would want to be treated by a hated immigrant even a white European immigrant at that. We are all Brexiteers and now we go to the next phase.
Britain, like 1930s Germany now has its version of the Jews. Maybe we should go for the poor next. All these benefit junkies bleeding us hardworking people dry.
It’s a dangerous destination we are arriving at. An economically failing UK sliding down the economic chart.
No surprise therefore that we are now ramping up military spending by the billions as we prepare our country for war.
National purity, the removal of Jews, and military prowess certainly got 1930s Germany marching.
Sadly it’s all in play again.