What immigration election manifesto pledges would mean for UK’s tech sector

25 June 2024

Many recent work immigration developments have impacted the UK tech sector’s access to a global talent pool as well as the ease of launching staff into the UK for firms and founders from abroad. So, what impact will this summer’s General Election have?

Some election manifestos have offered more details than others. But we have been poring over their immigration promises to evaluate the main parties’ attitudes and how they may affect techUK members.

In order of current predicted parliamentary seats:

The Labour Party’s immigration pledges

Interestingly, the manifesto’s section on “A fair and properly managed immigration system” appears in the “Kickstart economic growth” chapter of the Labour manifesto – an acknowledgement of immigration’s crucial role in economic growth.

There is much made of the link between immigration and skills too, and though there’s scant detail in the manifesto for employers to rely on, the main promise is a vow to reduce net migration.

There is a commitment to “reform the points-based immigration system so that it is fair and properly managed, with appropriate restrictions on visas, and by linking immigration and skills policy” which suggests a wide-ranging review.

There are no reassurances for employers and employees hampered by recent salary threshold hikes that have seen the minimum salary payable to sponsor a software developer or programmer on a Skilled Worker visa for instance leap from £27,200 to £49,400.

Conspicuously absent from its manifesto are recent press briefings that Labour would ask the Migration Advisory Committee to re-examine April’s massive salary threshold hikes for sponsoring a partner/spouse to join you in the UK or to sponsor Skilled Workers. Both these immigration options have been limited to those being paid average salaries or above. Perhaps these changes would be examined again as part of the Labour Party manifesto promise of “reform of the points-based immigration system.”

Despite tough talk of reducing reliance on immigration, the manifesto contains a commitment to empowering the Migration Advisory Committee to make informed decisions – which would suggest a return to consultations with stakeholders and evidence-based immigration policy again, rather than recent policies to reduce legal migration made with no consultation that have seen most tech roles no longer enjoy a shortage occupation discount. Hopefully, industry submissions will be taken into account by the Committee if they have the opportunity for a full consultation as has usually been the case.

“The days of a sector languishing endlessly on immigration shortage lists with no action to train up workers will come to an end,” the Labour manifesto vows. “Labour will bring joined-up thinking, ensuring that migration to address skills shortages triggers a plan to upskill workers and improve working conditions in the UK.”

It will be interesting to see what promises of “linking immigration and skills policy” and ending “long-term reliance on overseas workers” mean in practice and whether the onus will fall on the state or employers to train more resident workers. Such sentiments have been expressed by many previous governments, but this Labour manifesto trails a national skills strategy expressly linking immigration with training.

“We will strengthen the Migration Advisory Committee, and establish a framework for joint working with skills bodies across the UK, the Industrial Strategy Council and the Department for Work and Pensions,” the manifesto promises.

Elsewhere in the manifesto it adds: “We will establish Skills England to bring together business, training providers and unions with national and local government to ensure we have the highly trained workforce needed to deliver Labour’s Industrial Strategy. Skills England will formally work with the Migration Advisory Committee to make sure training in England accounts for the overall needs of the labour market.”

All of this suggests immigration and training policies will be part of long-term industrial strategies.

Employers who “abuse the visa system” or breach employment law will be barred from hiring workers from abroad, the manifesto adds. (Sponsors must currently adhere to good employment practices to sponsor non-resident staff, so this is not a big change, though this may imply there would be more resources for enforcement.)

The Conservative Party’s immigration pledges

The Conservative Party manifesto reiterates its recent immigration-curbing policies and vows to go much, much further.

The manifesto promises not just to reduce immigration, but to “introduce a binding, legal cap on migration, set on work and family visas so public services are protected whilst we bring the skills our businesses and the NHS needs… The cap will fall every year of the next Parliament and cannot be breached.”

Despite recent increases to salary thresholds which will already preclude many from coming to the UK, there is a promise to “raise the Skilled Worker threshold and Family income requirement with inflation automatically.” Tech companies would only be able to sponsor staff on Skilled Worker visas if they were paid above the median wage for the occupation they are in, which would mean it would continue to be difficult to fill more junior roles from abroad.

There is a promise to increase visa fees further, even though UK immigration fees are already considerably more expensive than other comparable countries.

“We will go further, in line with other countries, by requiring migrants to undergo a health check in advance of travel and increasing their Immigration Health Surcharge or requiring them to buy health insurance if they are likely to be a burden on the NHS,” the manifesto promises. The health surcharge currently adds £1,035 per year per person to the cost of a UK visa, or £776 a year for children, students and Youth Mobility visas. The manifesto vows to “remove the student discount to the Immigration Health Surcharge.” All this would likely make the UK the most expensive country in the world to migrate to.

There is no mention of tinkering with the Graduate visa following a Migration Advisory Committee review recently ordered by James Cleverly which recommended against scrapping the postgraduate work visa. Other recent measures such as further restricting postgraduate students’ ability to bring dependants to the UK appear to be already reducing the popularity of the UK as a destination for international students.

The Conservative manifesto does also warn that “courses that have excessive drop-out rates or leave students worse off than had they not gone to university will be prevented from recruiting students by the universities regulator.”

Further reducing student sponsorship on top of the impact of recent student dependant changes (consequently reducing post-study workers under the Graduate route), on top of the recent removal of salary discounts for recognised shortages in engineering and tech-related jobs, while simultaneously introducing a hard annual cap on sponsored work visas would likely exacerbate key skills shortages in tech fields.

The Liberal Democrats’ immigration policies

The Lib Dems have a very different offering for those hiring talent from abroad. Their manifesto is perhaps the most detailed in terms of concrete immigration policies, below are the ones that may be most relevant to those working in the tech sector.

The manifesto promises to remedy “damaging new rules” which “mean British employers can’t recruit the people they need and families are separated by unfair, complex visa requirements.”

The Liberal Democrats would “replace the Conservatives’ arbitrary salary threshold with a more flexible merit-based system for work visas, with the relevant department working with employers in each sector to address specific needs as part of a long-term workforce strategy that also focuses on education and training to address skills gaps from within the UK.”

Interestingly, the manifesto says that Lib Dems would “Transfer policy-making over work visas and overseas students out of the Home Office and into other departments” and “extend the participation of devolved administrations in the development of the evidence base for UK-wide policy on work permits and student visas, helping ensure rules are sensitive to the skills needs of every corner of the UK and every sector of the economy.”

As well as reversing salary thresholds to hire talent, the manifesto promises to reverse recent increases in the salary British citizens and residents would have to earn to live with a partner in the UK on a family visa.

The manifesto says EU citizens with pre-settled status would be automatically granted settled status and given a physical ID rather than just a digital record to make it easier to show their rights to stay.

The manifesto promises to “establish a firewall to prevent public agencies from sharing personal information with the Home Office for the purposes of immigration enforcement and repeal the immigration exemption in the Data Protection Act.”

The Lib Dems would also expand the Youth Mobility Scheme to extend it to EU countries on a reciprocal basis, increase the age limit to 35, abolish the reciprocal visa scheme’s fees and extend the length of the visa from two to three years for all countries taking part.

The party would also lift the ban on asylum seekers working if they have been waiting for a decision for more than three months.

The manifesto also promises an overhaul of the Immigration Rules to make them “simpler, clearer and fairer” – a promise I have heard many times over the years from different parties, but one which makes sense.

Anyone keen to discuss any of the above work visa routes, more expedient alternatives or with any UK immigration matters can contact Ross Kennedy on 020 4551 4897 or at ross@vanessaganguin.com.