Is a Scottish visa the answer to Scotland's workforce crisis?
There aren't many politicians calling for a rise in immigration to Britain at the moment, but you can count on the SNP to be different. Today the party's Scottish visa bill had its second reading in the sparsely-populated Commons, with sponsor Arbroath and Broughty Ferry MP Stephen Gethins spending 50 minutes elaborately making the case for its passage through parliament. Taking aim at the 'poisonous' Reform stance on Britain's borders, Gethins' speech dipped between reprimanding Labour for their lack of support and pleading with them to back his call to fully devolve immigration powers to Scotland. Neither carrot nor stick seemed to have much effect.
Giving Scotland a separate immigration system to the rest of Britain would, the SNP believe, help tackle the problems of depopulation and deskilling faced by Scotland's highlands, islands and rural areas.
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