Nigel Farage has suggested Singapore-style work permits as a solution to Britain’s skills shortage while avoiding the pitfalls of permanent mass immigration settlement. In these columns I have frequently recommended time-limited work permits as a viable alternative. Following the PM’s kneejerk immigration reforms this week, the Reform UK leader similarly raised the idea.
The beauty of work permits is we know they work. I write this from Singapore where work permits guarantee the economic ticks over, but where permanent residency is granted only to the privileged few. My advice to Farage is to double down on this. Firstly, countries like Singapore prove they work. Secondly, work permits guard against mass permanent settlement while satisfying the needs of the economy, and health and care sectors.
Singapore’s zero tolerance on crime and anti-social behaviour is also something Farage can draw from and point to. Again, the case is made more powerful by the fact Singapore is a living breathing workable example.
Furthermore, Singapore’s economic model – balancing low tax and regulation with economic interventionism where appropriate – would seem right in Reform’s wheelhouse.
Moving beyond Thatcherism redux – as evidenced by the Scunthorpe steel plant campaign, which forced Labour’s hand – Reform found a niche to woo the Red Wall: one of patriotic economics, where strivers are rewarded but where the government doesn’t flog the family silver either.
Should Reform also seek to offer a greater say for individuals in how their lives are run and their money is spent, the party could do worse than look to Switzerland and its model of direct democracy.
If the Brits – like the Swiss – got to challenge bad laws and propose their own ideas, imagine how much garbage would have been avoided since 1997.
Again, that Switzerland has road-tested direct democracy – like Singapore has with work permits, criminal justice policy and economic interventionism – gives Reform the authority to show these policies work.
Finally, there is the Commonwealth. Nothing could be more of a vote-winner among Reform voters than closer ties with Britain’s kith and kin countries, beginning with the states the UK shares a king with – such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Aside from sound economic and defence reasons for enhanced ties with the “CANZUK” countries, freedom of movement between the four could satisfy labour market needs while avoiding deluges of immigration since all four have comparable living standards.
Reform UK is today on the march but policies still need fleshing out. This can begin with concepts which have been tried and tested overseas, while post-Brexit Britain should also double down on the Commonwealth.
From immigration to the economy, from criminal justice to democracy, Reform can cite examples of success elsewhere – examples which would prove popular and be hard for the other parties to argue against.
