51勛圖厙

Gordon Brown speech on immigration; Gordon Brown speech continued SOT I want to ensure, as I will explain later, that we give British people looking for jobs the best chance of filling vacancies that arise as we come out of the downturn. But where there are vacancies that have been advertised here and are unfilled, it is necessary for businesses and for the economy to be able to recruit more widely. So we reject the views of those who argue for an inflexible, arbitrary quota or cap on immigration. It would deny British business flexibility; it would prevent them from getting the skills that they need; it would prevent employers from filling vacancies; it would overturn our obligations to our neighbours in the European Union; it would damage our economy; it would hurt our public services. To understand the damage a quota system would do to our economy, we should go back to the American system during the early part of this decade. There was an annual quota for skilled IT workers - seven times that quota was exhausted before the end of the year. It is this that has led President Obama to say that he will now reform the difficulties in the system. The chairman of Intel, Craig Barrett, said when the quota ran out with most of the year still to go: 璽��玳�These arbitrary caps undercut business璽��砂�┬ ability to hire and retain highly-educated people in the fields where we needed to maintain our leading position. Instead of arbitrary caps,璽��玲� he said, 璽��玳�a market-based approach that responds to demand is needed. Only then will the U.S. be competitive and have the ability to hire the best and the brightest.璽��玲� So we favour a tough but fair approach rooted in a points system under which we decide what categories of skills are to be allowed into this country. This combines the flexibility and control that is right, with a continued commitment to strong borders, and the rigorous enforcement of the laws against illegal immigration. So it璽��砂�┬ a system which is positive abo...