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British Prime Minister Truss in front of 10 Downing Street, the seat of government in London
PHOTO: JOHN SIBLEY / REUTERS
Britain's new Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss is breaking with the legacy of her predecessor Boris Johnson.
As several British media reports unanimously, their government is planning to relax immigration rules and thus stimulate the economy.
The UK has been struggling for weeks with runaway inflation of almost 10 percent and a looming recession.
Truss now wants to counteract this by expanding the so-called “shortage occupation list”.
Sectors on this list can more easily recruit employees from abroad through simplified work visas.
As the "Guardian" and the "Sun" report, the upper limit of 40,000 visas is also to be dropped and the maximum length of stay of six months is to be lifted.
This should help agriculture, among other things, but also the health and logistics sectors, which have been stressed by the exit from the EU.
The government has not yet denied the reports.
"We had to do something quickly to attract people with the right skills and stimulate economic growth," the Guardian quoted a source from No. Downing Street as saying.
10, the seat of the Prime Minister.
"To do this, we will raise the limits in some areas and lower them in others." In addition, they want to "bring the unemployed back to work" quickly.
With Brexit, Truss's predecessor Boris Johnson significantly tightened the rules for workers from the EU.
The promise of lower immigration and more jobs for Britons was one of the main arguments for leaving the EU.
In this way he wanted to counter suspected fears in the British working class of losing jobs to immigrants, mainly from Eastern Europe.
Since then, complex and expensive visa procedures have been necessary.
As a result, numerous sectors complained about a significant shortage of staff.
Due to a lack of truck drivers, supermarket shelves remained empty, and there were long traffic jams at petrol stations.
The agricultural and meat industry also complained about a significant shortage.
Food rotted in the fields, many pigs had to be culled.
Many hotels and restaurants have reduced offers and opening hours.
A large number of EU citizens were employed in these areas in particular.
In many areas, workers are still scarce today.
The economy has therefore been demanding visa facilitation for weeks - and has apparently found a hearing in the new cabinet.
During her election campaign, Truss had already promised to address the labor shortage with a short-term expansion of visa easing for seasonal workers.
Nevertheless, with the current plan, she is likely to antagonize Brexit supporters in particular.
After all, the prime minister hardly seems to be worried: her plans for a tax reform, which will primarily benefit wealthy private individuals and companies, became known only recently.
