ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview and assessment of the government's policies in respect of migrant workers from the A8 and A2 countries. Both the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) continue to support the governments' key migration policies. Some British newspapers have campaigned against migrant workers, arguing that they are directly responsible for social problems relating to crime and housing and are displacing British workers. The government's difficulties were exacerbated following the revelation in 2007 that the Home Office had greatly underestimated the number of migrant workers entering the United Kingdom (UK) since 1997. In 2002 the government introduced a Highly Skilled Workers Programme (HSWP), which permitted skilled workers to come to the UK in order to pursue work or self-employment opportunities without having already received an offer of employment. The Union Learning Fund (ULF) was established by the Labour government in 1998.
