Shadow Minister for Brexit, Keir Starmer. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images. All rights reserved.What do football stadiums in Qatar, farms in Canada, and the palatial houses of London’s super rich all have in common? The answer provides a clear and present warning to the UK as it considers its options for a post-Brexit immigration policy with the EU. These places have all seen highly exploitative employment practices that arise from a toxic mix of poor labour standards, unscrupulous employers, and a migrant workforce with no ‘right to remain’ beyond the period specified in their work permit.
In our new report published today, Brexit and Immigration: Prioritising the Rights of All Workers, we show how across these case studies a lack of security in immigration status has persistently weakened workers’ ability to challenge exploitative employers.
Unfortunately, these issues have become all too relevant to the policy context in the UK where the idea of replacing EU free movement with ‘time-limited’ and ‘employer sponsored’ visas has been repeatedly raised in our immigration debate. When Tony Blair launched the UK points system for non-EEA (European Economic Area) migrants back in 2005 he promised a system that would allow ‘immigration where it is in the country’s interests and prevent it where it is not’.
