Britain's defeatist attitude ‘has led to reliance on foreign labour'

Telegraph

22-06-2025

A 'defeatist' attitude to getting young people into work has left Britain over-reliant on foreign labour, the Business Secretary has said.
Jonathan Reynolds hits out at the 'casual' approach taken to packing key sectors such as healthcare, construction and manufacturing with imported workers.
In an interview with The Telegraph, he says the UK is 'vulnerable' to global events because 'tremendous skills gaps' have opened up in the domestic workforce.
His intervention comes as Labour prepares to publish plans on Monday on how to boost the number of young Britons taking up jobs in areas like defence.
Mr Reynolds will publish a 10-year blueprint to train up thousands more school leavers and 'end the over-reliance on foreign labour' in the economy.
It comes after new analysis from Oxford University's Migration Observatory showed the proportion of migrant employees in the UK has risen from 12 per cent a decade ago to just under one in five now.
At the same time, the number of young Britons who are not in employment, education or training (Neet) has risen sharply to one in seven.
The Business Secretary said that the Neet statistic was 'appalling' and that people too often felt that skilled jobs had 'not been available to them and their children'.
'If on key areas the argument is 'we just have to import talent in that sector, we can't train people, we haven't got the money, we haven't got the capacity', I think that's too defeatist and we've got to address that,' he said.
'We cannot have a vibrant, diverse economy, we cannot have a very strong manufacturing base, unless we've got the skills for it and that's why we can't be casual about just importing that.'
Monday's industrial strategy announcement will include plans to open a new generation of technical colleges and fund 'cutting-edge' courses in defence and engineering.
It will also set out how the Government plans to be more interventionist, 'rather than leaving industry to fend for itself and let the markets decide'.
Mr Reynolds said it will help 'ensure British workers can secure good, well-paid jobs in the industries of tomorrow'.
He acknowledged that the historically high level of net migration over recent years 'doesn't have public consent' and has created a 'lot of anger'.
It was important to remain 'very pro talent coming to the UK' but also ensure migration was 'not the only way we're meeting those skills needs', he added.
'If you think about the tremendous gaps we've got in the skills pipeline in construction, in engineering, defence, that's the reason why the wider sectors that we've picked for the strategy have these packages in there.
'We are vulnerable when the whole world wants these things. I feel previous governments have assumed it doesn't matter if we make anything in the UK – I think that's wrong.'
Mr Reynolds said that 'the country has failed' the almost one million 16 to 24-year-olds who are currently classed as Neet.
There is 'not just an economic argument' but 'a moral one as well', he said, adding that 'it's a tragedy' if people aren't getting the right opportunities.
He backed the proposed £5 billion cuts to benefits, over which No 10 is facing a big Labour rebellion, arguing that 'we've got to be addressing these issues'.
'No young person, unless they obviously have a significant disability or are genuinely not in a position to work, should be choosing or [be] in a position where they're not going into employment or education or training,' he said.
'I go around, it doesn't matter whether it's creative industries, advanced manufacturing, services, energy, and think I'd love my kids to work in any of these sectors.
'I think the number of young people who are Neet is appalling. I don't know how we've allowed that to happen.'
Mr Reynolds said the industrial strategy should be judged on whether it helps school leavers 'understand that there are major careers, good jobs for British people'.
'The skills are about new careers for thousands of British people. Business needs that, I think the country needs that,' he said.
'Part of the conversation this week has been about the number of people on disability benefits in the UK, some of whom are in work, I do recognise that.
'But we've we've got to be addressing these issues for business, and we've got to be addressing them for people's lives themselves.'
He also insisted that, whilst defending UK industry, the strategy will not represent 'nostalgia for the past' or a 'protectionist and 1970s orientated' approach.
The Business Secretary, who has recently struck landmark trade deals with the US and India, said he would take a more cautious approach with China.
He said that he has repeatedly brought up the dumping of steel on the global market at below production value in 'candid' discussions with Beijing.
'Whatever people think of the US administration, they have a point on the reciprocity of trade, if one part of the world is producing a lot of what the world makes and doesn't consume itself a reflective share of that,' he said.
'These big global imbalances, this isn't really how the global economy is supposed to function.
'So an obvious thing for us would be, is a country like China willing to let our brilliant service industries operate freely as we allow some countries to operate in the UK? That's a question for China.'