A senior director in Liam Fox’s Department for International Trade has called for the continued large-scale immigration of low-skilled workers to the UK — possibly from outside the European Union.
Huge swathes of British industry will have to be closed unless the country can go on importing hundreds of thousands of workers, according to the outgoing head of the Institute of Directors (IoD).
Simon Walker, who is to join the trade department as lead non-executive board member, said: “One of the best things, if not the best thing, about the EU has been freedom of movement.”
The IoD remained neutral during the referendum campaign. In his new role in Fox’s department, Walker will be leading a board that oversees management rather than influencing policy.
Nonetheless, his pro-immigration stance puts him at odds with the government, which has made ending freedom of movement and reducing immigration a priority in its Brexit negotiations. At the Conservative Party conference in October, Fox said immigrants who came to Britain and “consume” its wealth were not welcome.
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According to the latest official statistics, net migration to Britain in the year to June was 335,000, close to a record high. Nearly half of new arrivals came from EU countries.
The government is sticking with an aspiration to cut immigration to “tens of thousands” per year. South African-born Walker has described such targets as “delusional”, saying that if there were a sharp reduction in the number of EU migrants, they would have to be replaced by workers from elsewhere.
“The reality is an advanced welfare state can’t operate without low-skilled but hardworking labour,” he said. “That is generally a need fulfilled by migrants. If they don’t come from Europe, they are going to need to come from somewhere else.
“The alternative is going to be the closure or running down of many of our industries. The other option is to close down the welfare state.”
Walker highlighted care homes, the restaurant industry and fruit picking as areas that are reliant on migrant labour. “We are going to continue needing many highly motivated but low-skilled migrants who are willing to do the jobs that, frankly, British workers aren’t willing to do. There are an awful lot of jobs in that category,” he said.
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Walker also called on the government to guarantee the rights of EU citizens already living in the UK. “A lot of them are worried and thinking about leaving now. These people ought not to be living in fear. This country would gain the moral high ground,” he added.
Walker has won praise during his five-year stint at the IoD for criticising corporate excess, lambasting companies such as Barclays and Sports Direct for their poor corporate governance.
He criticised remarks by Fox that British business was “fat and lazy” and needed to work harder to compete for export markets. But the pair are more likely to see eye-to-eye on trade. “Liam Fox is a passionate believer in free trade and that’s something I believe in, too,” Walker said. “I believe globalisation is a hugely positive force.”
It is too early to say what Britain’s post-Brexit trade arrangements should look like, he added. “It’s a new department being set up and I’m part of that process. I wouldn’t want to state the role I will have.”