NICOLA STURGEON, the SNP deputy leadership hopeful, called yesterday for a “Green Card” scheme which she claimed could attract 25,000 immigrants a year to Scotland.
At a press conference in Edinburgh she and Kenny MacAskill, the party’s Shadow Transport Minister, accused the Executive of “tinkering at the edges” of the problem of population decline.
Immigration policy is reserved to Westminster but Ms Sturgeon said: “This is a specific Scottish problem that requires a specific Scottish solution. Devolving immigration would allow the Parliament to tackle the problem head-on by introducing a Scottish Green Card.” The scheme would target young, skilled workers who would have to live and work in Scotland for a set period of time, with the Executive setting targets for the volume of immigration.
Ms Sturgeon said similar schemes had succeeded in Quebec and South Australia.
“Our population will drop by 10 per cent over the next 40 years and age considerably, putting huge pressure on our public services and leaving skill shortages,” she said. “One of the ways to address this is to encourage young skilled workers from other countries to settle in Scotland . . . Instead the Executive dreamt up the ‘fresh talent initiative’ which lacks proper incentives and has targets that are far too low to combat long-term population decline.”