Temporary immigration cap expected
By politics.co.uk staff
A temporary limit on the number of migrant workers from outside the EU allowed into Britain is expected to be announced tomorrow.
Weekend reports suggested the temporary cap would be announced on Monday before the permanent cap pledged in the Conservative party manifesto is introduced next April.
Home secretary Theresa May is expected to prevent non-EU migrants exceeding 24,100 over the next nine months, Sky News reported.
Immigration was one of the biggest issues of the general election, despite private fears from some Tory ministers that implementing a rigid immigration cap could damage the economy.
The Tories in opposition had called for the cap to be set in a way which would prevent non-EU immigration falling below the 100,000 mark, but have not yet set an exact figure.
The consultation on the issue to be launched this week could offer the Conservatives the opportunity to backtrack from their previous promises.
The Liberal Democrats, who are obliged to support the policy because of their position in the coalition government, had argued against it during the general election campaign.
“We lost thousands of votes to the Tories because of this policy – it was very popular,” a Lib Dem ‘insider’ told the Financial Times newspaper.
“It’s rather ironic to hear some of them criticising it now for exactly the same reasons we criticised it during the election.”
