Exclusive: union leaders say proposed changes are immoral and could threaten patient safety if there is staff exodus
Up to 50,000 nurses could quit the UK over the government’s immigration proposals, plunging the NHS into its biggest ever workforce crisis, research suggests.
Keir Starmer has vowed to curb net migration, with plans to force migrants to wait as long as 10 years to apply to settle in the UK instead of automatically gaining settled status after five years.
The measures, which also include plans to raise foreign workers’ skills requirements to degree level and raise the standards of English language required for all types of visa, including dependents, are seen as an attempt to combat the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party. A public consultation on the plans is expected imminently, sources said.
Nursing leaders told the Guardian the plans were “immoral” and treated highly skilled migrants as “political footballs”. They said a mass exodus of nurses would threaten patient safety and derail government efforts to cut waiting times.
