Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, urged the Immigration Minister to abolish the Tier 2 visa cap as the current model leads to a broken system.

Mr Zeichner said: “Last week, two consultants in Intensive Care at Addenbrooke’s Hospital wrote to me; they’d been trying to recruit urgently needed staff. What they found, was three people who were then turned down by the Home Office because the Tier 2 visa cap had been reached for that month. How can that possibly be helpful to our country? Will the Minister agree with me that the system is basically broken? ”  

Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes replied: “Well of course, what we have to do, is make sure that we have a sustainable system going forward. That’s why it’s important that when we bring forward the Immigration Bill and the whitepaper, that they take into account all the views that are expressed to us by all sectors, and that’s what we are determined to do, to get it right.”

Mr Zeichner comments: “The Minister’s answer will be of little comfort to patients needing urgent care now; the government are continuing to slam the door on doctors needed by local hospitals and highly-skilled researchers needed by universities. This cap serves no purpose other than to make the government look like they’re tough on immigration -; when in reality they are being tough on patients.”  

The cap was reached in both December 2017 and January 2018, causing skilled workers to have their immigration and visa applications rejected.