The UK "Immigration Cap" : implications for Scotland

The main purpose of this paper is to consider how the Conservative Liberal-Democrats Coalition’s so-called "immigration cap" will impact on Scotland. The immigration cap is a set of not yet specified policies (working mainly through the points-based immigration system) aimed at lowering net-migration to the UK primarily by lowering immigration. While the UK Government wants to reduce net-migration to the UK, the Scottish Government wants to maintain a historically high level of net-migration in Scotland in part to achieve its population growth target and to ensure labour force growth. The two levels of government are pursuing policies that clearly conflict, since lowering net-migration to the UK will also likely lower net-migration to Scotland