Opening door to more bricklayers and tilers not a Brexit betrayal, insists Jeremy Hunt

OPENING the door to thousands more bricklayers and tilers is not a betrayal of Brexit, Jeremy Hunt insisted.

The Chancellor defended giving the green light for a string of new occupations to be added to the official shortlist – meaning employers can dish out visas easier to help fill roles.

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New occupations will be added to the shortage list, giving them easier access to come to the UK[/caption]

Net migration is predicted to rise again to 245,000 a year, official forecasters predicted yesterday – with a total of 1.6million coming to the UK in the next five years.

But Mr Hunt insisted: “people who voted for Brexit didn’t vote for no immigration”.

When grilled on whether it was a betrayal of British people who voted to leave thinking it would mean more British workers being taken on, he replied: “No.

“What those people who voted for Brexit want is an economy, an economic model, that does not depend on unlimited, low-skilled migration.

Remainer Mr Hunt added: “What those people want is to know the government has a plan to remove the barriers to stop people working in the UK, to make sure we invest in our skills.”

Ministers have plans to look again at the shortage occupation list later this year, and could give the green light to even more occupations. 

But Labour insisted that they would train up more Brits to fill those places if they were in charge – and bringing in migrant workers would not be their priority.

Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves said: “We would rather there was more support given to train up people who are already in Britain.”

It came as the Government confirmed that MPs will vote next week on the ‘Stormont Brake’ – a key part of Rishi Sunak’s Northern Ireland Brexit deal.

It will be the first real test of the PM’s support among DUP MPs – who have been lukewarm on the arrangement sealed so far.