Tory MP John Bercow has called for the party to reconsider its stance on immigration after claiming migrant labour is essential to Britain’s growth.
Tory MP John Bercow has called for the party to rethink its stance on immigration after claiming migrant labour is essential to Britain’s growth.
Bercow, a former shadow secretary for international development, argues that the Conservative anti-immigration stance is “wrong for the country and damaging to the attempted recovery of the Party.” He has made the call in a paper published a week after delegates at the Conservative Party Conference displayed growing hostility to the party’s manifesto pledge of a cap on annual immigration.
In his publication, ‘Incoming Assets’, Bercow states immigration is an indispensable feature of a successful, capitalist trading nation and should be welcomed. He argues that immigrants are undertaking jobs British workers are “unable or unwilling” to do, and says without immigration the UK would need to raise retirement age to 72.
Bercow is a former shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and shadow minister for work and pensions. He was shadow secretary of state for international development between Novermber 2003 and September 2004.
