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UPDATE: UK Rudd Orders Independent Assessment of EU Migration

--Adds Comments From Immigration Minister
By Tara Oakes
     BRUSSELS (MNI) - A "detailed assessment" is needed of the economic impact
of EU and EEA migration to the UK, UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Thursday.
     Writing in the Financial Times, Rudd asked the independent Migration
Advisory Committee to "examine the British labour market, the overall role of
migration in the wider economy and how the UK's immigration system should be
aligned with a modern industrial strategy".
     Rudd said that the assessment should begin "shortly" and will be used by
the government to shape immigration policy.
     The article could indicate a softening of tone from a Conservative party
which has repeatedly promised to cut net migration to the UK to the tens of
thousands.
     Minister of State for Immigration, Brandon Lewis, told BBC Radio 4 Thursday
that such a reduction was still the government's aim but could not confirm when
this would be achieved by.
     While Rudd repeated that the "public must have confidence in our ability to
control immigration", she insisted that the government were listening to
companies who have told them "how they value European citizens for labour,
skills and ideas".
     "[T]he UK must remain a hub for international talent," she said, reassuring
EU citizens that they will not face a "cliff edge" when Brexit hits.
     But Lewis said that EU free movement of labour would stop as soon as the UK
leaves the EU, implying that it would not be part of a transition deal.
     "Free movement of labour ends when we leave the EU in spring 2019," he
said.
--MNI Brussels Bureau; +44 203-865-3851; email: tara.oakes@marketnews.com
--MNI Paris Bureau; tel: +33 1-42-71-55-41; email: jack.duffy@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$E$$$,MC$$$$,MGB$$$]

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