Labour has 'no plans' to reverse foreign health worker dependants ban, Wes Streeting says

Labour has “no plans” to change rules stopping foreign healthcare workers bringing their family with them to the UK, Wes Streeting has said.

Speaking to reporters at a campaign stop in Worcester on Wednesday, the shadow health and care secretary said he was “proud of the fact the NHS is an international workforce” but added it had become too reliant on overseas staff under the Conservatives.

He said there was a “global shortage” of medical staff, meaning the UK could not “assume that that pool of talent will always be there for us to draw on”, and described the recruitment of staff from countries with their own shortages as “immoral”.

Asked whether he would reverse a ban on overseas healthcare staff bringing their dependants to the UK, Mr Streeting said: “I’m not aware of any plans by (shadow home secretary) Yvette Cooper to change those rules.

“Obviously we’ll be working really closely together and I want to make sure that by developing our homegrown talent I help Yvette reduce net migration.”

The Government brought in the ban on dependants in March in an effort to reduce migration levels.

But health and social care providers warned the move could drive people from the sector, exacerbating staffing difficulties.

Mr Streeting also said the UK needed to “redress the balance” between homegrown medical students and international ones, saying too many top performing students were being turned away from British medical schools.

In February London Mayor Sadiq Khan condenced the new visa laws banning foreign health and care workers from bringing their families to the UK.

The Mayor of London said the sector’s workers were the capital’s “unsung heroes” and the Government’s plans will place an “already-stretched” NHS and social care system under more pressure.

“The Government needs to recognise the social and economic contribution of migrants and make it easier for them to come and work in the UK in sectors where their support is badly needed, not harder.”