Keir Starmer: Too many people from overseas recruited to NHS

The UK is recruiting too many people from overseas into the NHS, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The Labour leader argued immigration was not the solution to a staffing crisis as he called for more recruitment from within the UK.

Scotland’s SNP government is spending £8m on hiring 750 nurses and midwives from overseas this winter.

In England, 34% of doctors joining the health service last year came from overseas – up from 18% in 2014.

Meanwhile the biggest ever strike by nurses in the UK looks set to go ahead, after sources with the Royal College of Nursing told the BBC a large majority of members had voted in favour of action in a dispute over pay.

In a wide-ranging interview on BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show, Sir Keir also said Scottish ministers should prioritise the cost of living crisis over a second independence referendum.

And on Brexit, Sir Keir said there was “no case” for rejoining the EU.

About 6,000 nursing and midwifery posts are unfilled in Scotland’s NHS, while the English health service is said to be facing its worst-ever staffing crisis.

Labour has pledged to take on an extra 7,500 medical students every year if the party wins the next general election.

Sir Keir said those people would be trained into the NHS “from here”.

Asked how many people he would be prepared to let into the country under a managed migration plan, he said: “We don’t want open borders. Freedom of movement has gone and it’s not coming back.

“So that means fair rules, firm rules, a points-based system.

“What I would like to see is the numbers go down in some areas. I think we’re recruiting too many people from overseas into, for example, the health service.

“But on the other hand, if we need high-skilled people in innovation in tech to set up factories etc, then I would encourage that.”

The Labour leader said he has daily conversations with his wife Victoria, who works in the NHS, about the health service’s struggles.

Asked what she says is the problem with the NHS, Sir Keir replied: “We haven’t got enough people.”

On whether he believes immigration should be used to address that issue, he said: “I think that we should be training people in this country.

“Of course we need some immigration but we need to train people in this country.”

Sir Keir’s comments come after politicians and campaign groups criticised Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s language about migrants.

The Labour leader reiterated his stance on Brexit despite warnings about its impact on the economy.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has reported a 15% reduction in trade intensity due to Brexit and forecasts leaving the EU will reduce GDP by 4% over 15 years.

“We took a decision on leaving the EU in 2016 and we have now left,” Sir Keir told the Sunday Show. “There is no case for returning to the EU.

“Now what we need to do is rather than just sticking with the deal we’ve got, which is not good enough, we need to make Brexit work. We need a better deal.”

Sir Keir said a Labour government would aim to fix issues over the Northern Ireland Protocol, remove barriers to trade and establish closer EU co-operation on security issues

The party chief went on to accept that the union between Scotland and the rest of the UK is “voluntary” and that the people of Scotland were not “stuck in it”. But he did not set out a democratic route to a second independence referendum.

The Scottish and UK governments are currently locked in a Supreme Court battle over Holyrood’s capability to stage a referendum.

“All the court is going to be able to rule, if it does rule in favour [of the Scottish government], is that there could or can be, it’s legally permissible, to have a referendum,” Sir Keir said.

“That doesn’t answer the political question, which is should there be a referendum.”

He argued against a second vote and said that politicians should instead prioritise the cost-of-living crisis.

Sir Keir went on to praise Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who he said could go on to become first minister.

He insisted Labour’s route to government at Westminster “runs through Scotland”.

“What we’ve got to do is be facing the electorate in Scotland, across the whole of the United Kingdom, and making sure that our priorities are aligned with their priorities,” he said.

“We’ve done a huge amount of work on this. Anas Sawar has really put that focus, that determination, in here in Scotland.”

Sir Keir Starmer’s interview on The Sunday Show will be broadcast on BBC One Scotland and BBC Radio Scotland from 10:00.