UK for tough curbs on EU migrants

UK was considering measures to restrict immigration for all but the highestskilled European Union workers, a leaked government document said, plans some firms called alarming and an opposition lawmaker described as “plainly cruel“.

Large flows of migrants from EU were one of the reasons some Britons said they voted to leave the bloc. But firms, especially those in catering, social care and retail industries, which depend on the steady stream of workers from abroad, said they feared a restrictive immigration policy after Brexit would leave them unable to hire the staff they needed.

In the document, leaked to the Guardian newspaper and marked “draft -official sensitive“, the interior ministry said Britain was changing its focus to make sure, where possible, UK firms take on British workers rather than migrants.“This means that to be considered valuable to the country as a whole, immigration should benefit not just the migrants themselves but also make existing residents better off,“ the document said.