Borders thrown open to more foreign brickies after secret deal between Hunt & Braverman
BRITAIN’S borders have been thrown open to foreign brickies, roofers, carpenters and plasterers amid a shortage of homegrown handymen.
They were added to the Shortage Occupation List that allows them to undercut Brit’s wages to try to fill tens of thousands of vacancies in the construction industry.
The Sun can reveal the move was a “horse-trade” deal between the Treasury and Home Office amid a massive row about tackling spiralling net migration.
After months of wrangling over how to reduce the numbers, the Home Office eventually banned the dependents of foreign students coming to the UK.
But government sources say the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt only backed that move after demanding the Home Secretary Suella Braverman approve increasing foreign labour.
One said: “This is exactly the sort of horse trading that comes with any attempt to reduce the net migration numbers.”
Ministers were last night accused of fuelling “employers’ addiction to cheap labour” after relaxing the visa rules for the foreign labourers from August 7.
They will be able to come to live and work in Britain for 20 per cent less pay – and benefit from lower entry fees.
Last night a dozen furious Tory MPs wrote to the PM to demand more is done to train more British labourers.
The influential New Conservatives group penned a furious letter to No10 insisting there was “no good reason” for the foreign worker bailout.
They warned: “These migrants and their dependents increase pressure on our public services, housing stock, and social goodwill, without making a positive financial contribution to our economy.”
Tory MP Marco Longhi branded the decision “nuts”,
Some builders are raking in more than £125,000 a year amid the skills shortage, according to industry figures.
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Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said the construction sector needed “tens of thousands of new entrants every year to meet current demands”.
But the latest labour market stats show a staggering 1.37million people aged 16 and over were out of a job.
