Brexit: May rejects points-based immigration

UK prime minister Theresa May has ruled out adopting a points-based system for selecting migrants, as proposed by the Leave campaign in the run-up to the EU referendum.

Speaking to journalists at the G20 summit in China, May said: “One of the issues is whether or not points-based systems do work. A lot of people talk about a points-based system as always being the answer in immigration.

“There is no single silver bullet that is the answer in terms of dealing with immigration. You have to look across the board.

“You have to look at the whole range of issues, not just how you bring control through the rules you have for people coming in, but also making sure you are rooting out abuse in the system and dealing with people if they are discovered here illegally.”

A spokesman for the prime minister later elaborated on May’s remarks, saying: “The precise way in which the government will control the movement of EU nationals to Britain after Brexit is yet to be determined. However, as the PM has said many times in the past, a points-based system will not work and is not an option.”

Immigration was a major theme of the EU referendum campaign, with Leave campaigners—including current foreign secretary Boris Johnson—promising that the current system, whereby citizens of other EU member states are free to live and work in the UK, would be replaced by an “Australian-style points-based immigration system.”

The terms of Brexit are still unclear, but May has appeared to rule out membership of the European Economic Area, which would give the UK full access to the single market from outside the EU while accepting freedom of movement.

Massimiliano Tani has written about some of the pros and cons of points-based immigration systems for IZA World of Labor. He writes that points systems, as used in Canada and New Zealand as well as Australia, can help manage population growth, which may be reassuring to the native population. However, he argues that: “the point system does not avoid the possibility that immigrants will end up in jobs below their level of education, ability and experience, hence contributing less than their true potential to the economic well-being of the host country.”

Related article:

Using a point system for selecting immigrants by Massimiliano Tani

Other related content:

Video: Dawn or doom: The effects of Brexit on immigration, wages, and employment

Opinion: Brexit: Implications for UK labor by Daniel S. Hamermesh