Ministers bid to lift Theresa May’s immigration cap on doctors

Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt are understood to favour a temporary measure exempting doctors and nurses from the PM's quota
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Two Cabinet ministers are joining forces to persuade Theresa May to ease the visa cap for doctors coming from outside the EU, the Standard has learned.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary Sajid Javid are understood to favour a temporary measure exempting doctors and nurses from the quota until more medical professionals can be trained in the UK, sources said.

Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark are expected to weigh in if, as intended, it means more visas for companies that are desperate to recruit experts from abroad to fill skills shortages.

The Standard revealed last month that the Prime Minister had “absolutely refused to budge” when pleas for a relaxation in visa rules were made by Mr Javid’s predecessor Amber Rudd, Mr Hunt and Mr Clark. However, the new Home Secretary is understood to be determined to make another attempt to solve an issue that has frustrated health chiefs and businesses.

Pressure for a rethink increased yesterday when NHS trusts warned of 93,000 vacancies, and the Royal College of Physicians said “serious consequences” included waiting lists getting longer and money wasted on temporary staff. A senior

Government source said Mr Hunt was in favour of exempting all doctors and nurses from the cap until the Government’s planned 25 per cent increase in training places starts to feed through, resulting in British-trained doctors and nurses working in the NHS.

At present, the cap means that giving visas to health staff results in business recruits being pushed on to a waiting list. “That’s the issue now — one group is traded off against another — which is why it should change,” the source said.

“I think Sajid Javid understands it, but it is not clear yet how he plans to solve it.”

The chairwoman of the Commons health committee, Dr Sarah Wollaston, said change was desperately needed to avoid staff shortages in the NHS.

“The visa cap for doctors makes no sense at all and it acts against the best interests of patients,” the Conservative MP, a former GP, said. “It should be lifted immediately and in a way that does not disadvantage other skilled groups such as scientists.

“Our immigration policy should be designed to benefit the UK, not leave science, healthcare and industry with a shortfall of vital skilled workforce.”

Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of the 250-member business group London First, said: “We rely on immigrants to plug the skills gap. And we will need a route into the UK for ‘exceptional talent’ — the entrepreneurs and innovators that start businesses and create jobs.

“Delivering a fair system that works for the whole of the UK should be the government’s next immigration goal.”

The Prime Minister faces a backbench revolt on the issue after dozens of Conservative MPs signed a letter urging a relaxation of the rules.

The letter written by backbencher Heidi Allen said the cap was “forcing the country to make a binary choice between professionals needed to grow the economy and professionals needed to staff our health system”.

There is currently an annual quota of 20,700 Tier 2 visas for people from outside the EU for posts than cannot be filled from people already in the UK. The problem has come because the monthly limit was hit for five months in a row, leaving thousands of posts unfilled.

Andrew Foster, chief executive of Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS trust, has dismissed the current cap as “bonkers” and “barmy”.

A recruitment scheme, which his trust organises, had seen nearly all of 120 Indian doctors refused visas three times.

Mrs May has reportedly offered privately to give doctors higher priority in the queue for visas, but not to exclude them from the cap.

An Ipsos MORI survey for the Standard last week showed 37 per cent of Britons say there should be no cap on these doctors, while a further 27 per cent believe more visas should be issued for them.

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