Two days after May Day, the festival of labour, a story appeared on the front page of the Financial Times under the typically downbeat headline: 'Work permit shake-up targets skill gap.' It told of the Government's introduction of a permit system which would allow rapid entry into the UK for foreign professionals and highly skilled technicians - doctors, nurses, software engineers, information technologists and others. The same package proposed that non-British students who possess skills which are in short supply should be able to move easily from completing their degrees to finding employment. Aimed primarily at Asia and Central/Eastern Europe, the scheme was commended by David Blunkett as proof that the Government was 'delivering nothing less than one of the world's most flexible modern work permit systems. To maintain a buoyant economy we need to ensure employers can quickly fill key posts where shortages exist.'

LRB 19 October 2000 | PDF Download