09-05-2025
Foreign workers should not be casualty of border crisis, says CBI
Businesses are not responsible for high net migration and foreign workers are needed to help ease labour shortages, the head of the Confederation of British Industry has argued as the government prepares to publish its immigration white paper.
Rain Newton-Smith said that economic growth, investment and job creation needed to be 'front and centre'. Debate about immigration has been heightened since the success of Reform UK in local elections last week.
The CBI, one of Britain's five biggest business lobby groups, is concerned that further restrictions on student visas will put more pressure on university finances and add to the perception that hiring immigrants is a lazy or cheap route for employers to access labour.
It argues that it is in fact more expensive and
