Scotland’s government needs flexibility to respond to demographic change, MSP tells Stormont Conference

Need for separate Scottish immigration policy endorsed by Nick Clegg

Christina McKelvie MSP will today (Tuesday 18 January 2010) tell a conference in Northern Ireland that devolved administrations have a right to speak out when UK government policies contradict the needs and aspirations of the devolved countries.

SNP MSP Ms McKelvie will make her remarks in the context of immigration and asylum policy, the subject of a conference taking place at Stormont today at which she is a keynote speaker. The conference, organised by the the Northern Ireland Law Centre and the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly, is entitled Immigration and Devolution: Lessons from Scotland.

Ms McKelvie will contrast Scottish Government efforts to attract skilled migrants to help meet the economic and employment challenges caused by an ageing population, with Westminster government policies which directly undermine these efforts:

“At UK level, [there will be] a tightening up of the points system leading to a drastic reduction in the range of professions for which migrants from outside the EU will be allowed to work, as announced by the Prime Minister last November. Among the restricted professions will be care work and engineering – both key areas in which Scotland needs to attract workers,” Ms McKelvie will tell conference delegates.

“The announcement came just three days after the Scottish Government’s then external affairs Minister met with Phil Woolas MP, the UK immigration minister, and impressed on him the need for Scotland to be able to respond to our specific migration needs. Yet, the new points system still makes no allowance for Scotland – or any other devolved administration – to be able to act flexibly.

“The UK seeks to restrict immigration in exactly the same areas where Scotland wishes to encourage it. It is a clear-cut illustration of…contradiction between UK master policy and devolved needs and aspirations. It is why the Scottish Government will continue to press for Scottish-specific flexibilities within the immigration system in order to allow it to respond to Scotland’s demographic challenges.”

Ms McKelvie and the Scottish Government’s position has been backed up this week by UK Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg MP, who has confirmed that he is considering a Scotland-only immigration policy to help address labour shortages.

Ms McKelvie will also condemn the UK government’s “punitive” approach to asylum-seekers and particularly the practice of child detention, saying:

“I do not believe that the UK’s immigration ministers are deliberately cruel or callous people, but, perhaps because they have become so wedded to a political rhetoric that emphasises toughness on asylum seekers and migrants, they persist in pursuing a cruel policy… Detention wrecks children’s lives, pure and simple. No immigration or asylum policy justifies it, and it must end now.”

Ms McKelvie will conclude her address by arguing that devolved administrations should use the powers they have to mitigate the “distorting” effect Westminster’s policies have on their own priorities and ambitions:

“Holyrood and Stormont may not – yet – have the power to determine how we organise and manage immigration within our devolved jurisdictions, but we do have the power to encourage in our citizens an understanding that in welcoming newcomers to our countries and providing them with the support and services they need to thrive, we all have a great deal to gain.”