A TORY row exploded over plans to increase foreign workers to plug staffing shortages.
Cabinet ministers locked horns over immigration rules as they discussed expanding the seasonal worker scheme.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is understood to have pushed back on using migrants to solve workforce problems
Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch are understood to have pushed back on using migrants to solve the problem.
And hardline Conservative MPs baulked at the suggestion.
Tory MP Lee Anderson told Trending In The News: “Relaxing immigration rules is the easy option.
“We need to get people back to work and to fill the void.
“Where will we be in 50 years time if we keep allowing immigration to rise year on year?”
A source involved in the discussions yesterday said that ministers are currently trying to figure out how many foreign workers would come in under the arrangement.
Another Whitehall insider said the visa scheme could be relaxed on a sector-by-sector basis where there are shortages.
“Campaigners said moves to change the rules “beggar belief”.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: “The lessons of Labour’s mistakes of 20 years ago of opening up to cheaper migrant workers have been forgotten.”
He wants Cabinet ministers to “stick to their guns in resisting this dreadful idea”.
