KEIR Starmer has shown he is "more worried about Nigel Farage's Reform Party" than Scotland's urgent need for migration powers in dismissing the idea of further devolution, an SNP MP has said.
Speaking on a visit to Glasgow, the Prime Minister made clear that giving Scotland more powers over migration was not something he was considering despite having expressed a desire to “reset” the relationship between governments at Holyrood and Westminster.
When asked if this “reset” would include considering devolving powers of immigration – something the Scottish Government has repeatedly called for – Starmer (below) stated: “No, we’re not looking at that.”
It comes after the UK Government dismissed the idea of a bespoke Scottish visa scheme after SNP MP Stephen Gethins lodged a private members’ bill seeking an amendment to the Scotland Act 1998 to enable the Scottish Government to set one up.
Leon Thompson, the executive director of UKHospitality Scotland, told The Herald last month he was “very disappointed” the policy was not being pursued as he stressed how much a visa could help address workforce shortages in rural areas where there is depopulation.
Meanwhile, Gethins told The National while he did not find Starmer’s latest dismissal surprising, he said it was “damaging” when there is widespread agreement Scotland needs to have migration powers.
He said: “There seems to be general agreement amongst business, the care sector, and wider civil society that Scotland needs a distinctive approach to migration.
“Before the Brexit referendum, the Tories promised that would be something that would be delivered if they won and before the General Election, Scottish Labour committed to delivering something if they won.
“What that tells us is there is even some consensus at a political level that Scotland needs greater control of its migration and that’s even something that Scottish Labour MPs argued for after the election.
“Keir Starmer’s comments might not be that surprising, but they are damaging and again illustrate that it’s very difficult to tell the Tories and Labour apart when it comes to governing.”
Just before the EU referendum, former Tory minister Michael Gove had also suggested that Scotland should decide its immigration policy if the Leave campaign was successful.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said just before this year’s General Election her party was open to talks with the Scottish Government on a Scottish visa.
Scottish Labour MP Torcuil Crichton also recently said “it should not be beyond us to devise ways to attract more people to work and settle” in Scotland.
Gethins added: “It speaks to something that’s very disappointing from the Labour Party which is that the commitments that are made on the election trail do not get maintained in Government.
“These commitments were made by the Conservatives and Labour because they recognised the damage of a hostile environment and crucially Brexit. This proposal [of a Scottish visa] was there to offset those damaging Westminster policies but even then this is not a solution, it’s simply a way of making things less bad.
“But even this modest approach is not to be introduced because Scotland’s interests are a poor second to what is a backward debate that’s taking place at Westminster around migration and a Conservative Party and a Labour Party that are more worried about Nigel Farage’s Reform Party than they are about the interests of business, the care sector and the NHS in Scotland.”
SNP MP Pete Wishart (above) said the rejection of devolving immigration powers to Scotland by Starmer calls into question his pledge to work constructively with the Scottish Government to tackle specific challenges the country faces.
“Practically every sector in Scotland is on its knees due to worker shortages, despite unemployment being at a historic low. This is largely thanks to Brexit and the hostile environment that the UK Government created for foreign workers in the years that followed,” he told The National.
“In my constituency alone, I have heard from countless businesses – from hospitality to social care – who are under enormous strain as a result of worker shortages.
“We had 14 years of a Tory government who did nothing but demonise and denigrate foreign workers right at a time when we needed them most, which did untold damage to Scotland’s economy. Now we have a Labour government who came into power on the promise to work constructively with the Scottish Government to tackle our nation’s specific challenges, only to completely dismiss the slightest suggestion of a Scottish visa.
“This is yet more evidence that, red or blue, Westminster simply doesn’t serve Scotland’s interests.”
