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A major report has warned the government to make it "easier" for higher-skilled workers to migrate to the UK after Brexit.

But the Migration Advisory Committee added a "more restrictive" policy should be adopted towards lower-skilled migrants.

The main recommendation of the report, published on Tuesday, said the "general principle behind migration policy changes should be to make it easier for higher-skilled workers to migrate to the UK than lower-skilled workers".

Professor Alan Manning, author of the report, said: "We recommend that the government does what it can to reduce the bureaucratic burden of the system... to ensure it is fit for purpose."

Meanwhile, no preference would be given to EU citizens in the UK's future immigration system post-Brexit.

The wide-ranging report, commissioned by the government, also reviewed the "impacts" of migration.

On the UK's short supply of social housing, it said: "Migrants are a small fraction of people in social housing but a rising fraction of new tenants. The share of new tenancies going to migrants from the New Member States in particular is rising. Given there is little building of new social housing this is inevitably at the expense of other potential tenants."

However, the report also said migrant construction workers have helped negate the country's housing shortage.

The report said migration has had no impact on parental choice of schools for UK-born children, while the average adult migrant from the European Economic Area contributed £2,300 more in tax than the average UK resident.

Meanwhile, it said there is "no evidence to suggest that migrants are linked to any increases in crime", while there has been little impact on wages for UK-born workers.

A Home Office spokesman said the department will "carefully consider" the report, while Labour MP Chuka Umanna said it "debunks many of the anti-immigration myths peddled by hard right Tory MPs, ministers & UKIP spokespeople".

Responding to the report, Catherine McGuinness, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, said: "The Migration Advisory Committee’s report sets out the vital role that highly skilled EU nationals play in the UK labour market.

“Access to global talent is a critical issue for the financial and related professional services industry. More than one in four people working in banking and finance in London are non-UK citizens, with EU citizens helping to fill almost 17 per cent of jobs across the sector."

She added: "Both firms and individuals working in the UK urgently need certainty about how our immigration system will operate post-Brexit. In order to realise the government’s vision for Global Britain, we must remain open to global talent.”