Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, has written to the Home Secretary labelling the Government’s plan to rush through immigration legislation an insult to NHS staff and care workers, and a danger to our National Health Service.

Nick Thomas-Symonds said:

“It is rank hypocrisy towards our NHS and care workers – over 180,000 in England and Wales alone – to stand and clap for them on a Thursday night, and then tell them that they are not welcome in the UK on a Monday.

“The Home Secretary has been invisible throughout this crisis – and now her first major intervention is a Bill that will make workers in the NHS and the care sector feel unwelcome in this country, as well as labelling retail workers, carers, local government workers, refuse collectors, and many more as ‘low skilled’ – the very same workers who have been keeping this country running throughout the crisis.

“This Bill creates a threat to our national interest. It risks the NHS not being able to fill the desperately needed roles for trained nurses and care home workers at the very moment when we rely on the NHS most.”