Brexit and immigration: is taking back control helping the UK economy?
Having 'taken back control\u2019 of the UK border after Brexit, the government has ended free movement of people and introduced a new points-based immigration system.\n\nBut 10 months on, the UK labour market is under pressure, with a combination of Covid-19, Brexit, and other structural forces causing widespread shortages of workers.\n\nTo what extent has the new immigration regime contributed to these labour problems? Is the UK worse affected than other countries? Will there be longer-term benefits from the new immigration regime? Has Brexit made the UK more or less able to address labour market issues? And how is the government making the most of its new-found control?\n\nTo discuss these issues, we were joined by an expert panel:\n\nSeema Farazi, Partner, Financial Services, Immigration and Brexit at EY\nMadeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory\nGiles Wilkes, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government\nPaul Wilson, Policy Director at the Federation of Small Businesses\nThe event was chaired by Dr Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government.