Nicola Sturgeon has a strong track record of defending migrants� rights in the UK

The leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon, has strongly condemned the British government�s new immigration policy which will deny visas to low-skilled workers.

In a strongly worded tweet, Sturgeon, who is also Scotland�s First Minister, said the new policy would have a "devastating impact" on Scotland.

Earlier, Sturgeon told a gathering of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations that the new policy is "offensive and disastrous".

The new immigration policy is part of the Home Office�s post-Brexit strategy of pacing migrants from the European Union (EU) and those from non-EU backgrounds on an equal footing.

By one count, 500,000 EU citizens in the UK are in unskilled jobs, indicating that workers from EU backgrounds are set to be disproportionately affected by the new immigration policy.

By the Home Office�s own estimates, 70 percent of EU workers currently in the UK would not meet the requirements if applying under the new system, which is set to come into force in January 2021.

The government wants to bring in a "points-based" immigration system, under which overseas citizens would have to reach 70 points to be able to work in the UK.

The Scottish government is worried as its economy is highly dependent on migrant EU workers, including in critical sectors such as healthcare.

Meanwhile, the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has come under fire following her claim that eight million "economically inactive" Britons can fill vacancies in the new harsh immigration climate.

In an interview with Sky News, Patel said "it is about time businesses started to invest in people in this country".

"We have over eight million people - that is 20% of the workforce - aged between 16 and 64 that are economically inactive right now", Patel added.

Reacting to Patel�s claims, the shadow health secretary, John Ashworth, said Patel was "clearly clueless" for suggesting that "economically inactive" Britons could fill the expected deluge in job vacancies.

"Not only are these proposals hugely damaging for our economy - making a complete mockery of Tory claims to �level up� our economy - they�re potentially devastating for our health and care sector", Ashworth said in an interview with the BBC.

SOURCE: PRESS TV

LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/14156

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