Responding to Home Secretary James Cleverly’s announcement on changes to legal migration rules, Alexandra Hall-Chen, Principal Policy Advisor for Sustainability, Skills and Employment at the Institute of Directors, said:

“Today’s announcements will cause concern among businesses already struggling to recruit the labour they need. We know that skills and labour shortages continue to be one of the top pain points for businesses in the UK, with 39% of business leaders citing skills shortages as negatively affecting their organisation in a November IoD poll.

“Continued tightness in the UK labour market is feeding inflation and is a key reason that interest rates remain high. Without measures to increase domestic labour supply, policies designed to restrict businesses’ ability to hire overseas workers risk worsening inflation and holding down economic growth.”