Scotland hopes to attract newcomers moving to the UK

July 27 2009 by Mark Johnstone

Jim Murphy on UK immigration

In a move intended to attract more immigrants to live in Scotland, the Home Office is to bring in new immigration laws awarding more points to people committed to moving there.

Under the new points-based system for gaining UK citizenship, migrants who decide to live and work in Scotland will be given extra points, helping Scotland to attract talent from abroad. The move follows others measures introduced to allow foreign students studying in Scotland to remain living in the UK for an extended period.

The Scottish Secretary, Jim Murphy, says the system needs to attract people who want to work in the UK to move to Scotland in order to expand its population and its workforce.

Scottish National Party ministers are said to be “entirely supportive” of the measures, but are also calling for powers over UK immigration to be devolved to Scotland, instead of being held by the UK Home Office. Murphy said that Scotland’s own points-based system would, “create a targeted approach to immigration which would reflect the needs of the economy and the demographic challenges Scotland faces."

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