Brown vows to curb entry of foreign doctors, professionals to UK

Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday pledged to curb the entry of doctors and other professionals from outside Europe into the UK in a new crackdown on immigration, a move likely to adversely impact thousands of Indians. Signalling a major shift in the Labour government's immigration policy, the Prime Minister vowed to "stem rising tide of migration". He said his government plans to restrict the points based system for determining which migrants can work in Britain. "One of the reasons that immigration will fall is the tightening of the new points system and it will continue to tighten over the next few months," Brown told the 'Daily Mail' in an interview ahead of a major speech on immigration on Thursday.

Even as insisting that immigration had been a source of "economic, social and cultural strength" for Britain, Brown said the points-based system, introduced last year to control the entry of non-EU citizens to the UK by grading incomers on the skills they can offer the country, would be further toughened up. In a major policy change, Brown is expected to announce that the door is being closed to non-EU hospital consultants, civil engineers, aircraft engineers and ship's officers, the report said. "I know people worry about whether immigration undermines their wages and the job prospects of their children and they also worry about whether they will get a decent home for their families," he underlined. Brown pledged to tighten the new points-based entry system before the next general election in June next year as large-scale immigration had put key public services in the country under severe strain and may be turned into a key electoral issue by the right wing anti-immigrant parties.

The Labour government has faced controversy as local doctors have struggled to find employment. Last week, Home Secretary Alan Johnson admitted ministers had failed to grasp growing public concern about the pressures on jobs and public services. "I understand people's concerns when they hear suggestions that levels of immigration are going to rise. Especially in difficult economic times, people have concerns," said Brown, who is preparing for a tough electoral battle with the Conservative Party which is ahead in most opinion polls. He said the British citizens want "to be assured that the system is tough and fair". "They want to be assured that newcomers to the country will accept their responsibilities...obey all the laws, speaking English is important, making a contribution," he underlined.

"We ask people to show that they abide by our laws, we ask people to show that they understand our constitution and our democracy, we ask people to show that they understand the values of liberty, fair play and responsibility," Brown was quoted as saying by the British tabloid. Brown said the latest assessments were that net migration, which hit more than 290,000 in 2005, has fallen by more than 40 per cent over the last year - and pledged it would fall further. He said this is "not an arbitrary cap". "We are going to be setting out a programme for making sure that we in Britain can train our British young people and British workers who are looking for jobs," Brown underlined.