Lurid headlines on every aspect of migration have been a consistent feature of the last decade, from worries over asylum seekers to concerns about unprecedented economic immigration from Eastern Europe. This book presents the first comprehensive account of government policy on immigration over the last ten years, providing an in-depth analysis of policy and legislation since Tony Blair and New Labour were first elected. The account begins by placing policy change under Labour in their proper historical context, before examining the key policy themes - economic migration; security; integration; asylum; delivery - of the last decade. Through an analysis of such policy themes, the author contends that immigration policy has undergone an intense and innovative transformation in the period from May 1997 to May 2007. Arguing that a more plural system of governance exists, the author challenges traditional accounts of policy development. By addressing the various influences on immigration policymaking, from globalisation, the European Union and the law, to politics, the media and the networks of special interests, he seeks to provide a holistic explanation for the transformation of immigration policy. The author concludes with an evaluation of Labour's immigration reforms, and whether government policy can be judged a success. The book will be of interest to policymakers, academics, students studying immigration, and readers interested in serious current affairs.

Will Somerville presents a comprehensive account of immigration policy since 1997, providing an in-depth account of policy and legislation since Tony Blair and New Labour were first elected.

This book explains how and why the New Labour governments transformed Britain’s immigration system from a highly restrictive regime to one of the most expansive in Europe, otherwise known as the Managed Migration policy. It offers the first in-depth and candid account of this period of dramatic political development from the actors who made policy during ‘the making of the migrant state.’ Drawing on document analysis and over 50 elite interviews, the book sets out to explain how and why this radical policy change transpired, by examining how organized interests, political parties and institutions shaped and changed policy. This book offers valuable insights to anyone who wants to understand why immigration is dominating the political debate, and will be essential reading for those wanting to know why governments pursue expansive immigration regimes.

This book is about the people who always get taken for granted. The people who clean our offices and trains, care for our elders and change the sheets on the bed. Global Cities at Work draws on testimony collected from more than 800 foreign-born workers employed in low-paid jobs in London during the early years of the new century. Global Cities at Work breaks new ground in linking London's new migrant division of labor to the twin processes of subcontracting and increased international migration that have been central to contemporary processes of globalization. Global Cities at Work raises the level of debate about migrant labor, encouraging policy-makers, journalists and social scientists to look behind the headlines. The book calls us to take a politically-informed geographical view of our urban labor markets and to prioritize the issue of working poverty and its implications for both unemployment and community cohesion.

Public debates about the terms of membership and inclusion have intensified as developed economies increasingly rely on temporary migrant labour. While most agree that temporary migrant workers are entitled to the general protection of employment laws, temporary migrants have, by definition, restricted rights to residence, full social protections and often to occupational and geographic mobility. This book raises important ethical questions about the differential treatment of temporary and unauthorised migrant workers, and permanent residents, and where the line should be drawn between exploitation and legitimate employment. Taking the regulatory reforms of Australia as a key case study, Laurie Berg explores how the influence of immigration law extends beyond its functions in regulating admission to and exclusion from a country. Berg examines the ways in which immigration law and enforcement reconfigure the relationships between migrant workers and employers, producing uncertain and coercive working conditions. In presenting an analytical approach to issues of temporary labour migration, the book develops a unique theoretical framework, contending that the concept of precariousness is a more fruitful way than equality or vulnerability to evaluate and address issues of temporary migrant labour. The book will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners of immigration law and employment law and policy.

There is a highly significant and under-considered intersection and interaction between migration law and labour law. Labour lawyers have tended to regard migration law as generally speaking outside their purview, and migration lawyers have somewhat similarly tended to neglect labour law. The culmination of a collaborative project on 'Migrants at Work' funded by the John Fell Fund, the Society of Legal Scholars, and the Research Centre at St John's College, Oxford, this volume brings together distinguished legal and migration scholars to examine the impact of migration law on labour rights and how the regulation of migration increasingly impacts upon employment and labour relations. Examining and clarifying the interactions between migration, migration law, and labour law, contributors to the volume identify the many ways that migration law, as currently designed, divides the objectives of labour law, privileging concerns about the labour supply and demand over worker-protective concerns. In addition, migration law creates particular forms of status, which affect employment relations, thereby dividing the subjects of labour law. Chapters cover the labour laws of the UK, Australia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Germany, Sweden, and the US. References are also made to discrete practices in Brazil, France, Greece, New Zealand, Mexico, Poland, and South Africa. These countries all host migrants and have developed systems of migration law reflecting very different trajectories. Some are traditional countries of immigration and settlement migration, while others have traditionally been countries of emigration but now import many workers. There are, nonetheless, common features in their immigration law which have a profound impact on labour law, for instance in their shared contemporary shift to using temporary labour migration programmes. Further chapters examine EU and international law on migration, labour rights, human rights, and human trafficking and smuggling, developing cross-jurisdictional and multi-level perspectives. Written by leading scholars of labour law, migration law, and migration studies, this book provides a diverse and multidisciplinary approach to this field of legal interaction, of interest to academics, policymakers, legal practitioners, trade unions, and migrants' groups alike.

This thesis combines public policy approaches to the study of policy development with theories of migration and applies them to analysis of New Labour immigration policy between 1997 and 2007. In particular the thesis engages with the insights of Lowi and Pierson in examining the degree to which immigration policy can be seen to have made immigration politics, and then to relate such insights to the feedback effects of that politics impacting on future policy. Through the analysis of four Acts of Parliament and the debate around those Acts, it is argued that a dual policy was created, with the quiet encouragement of wanted migrants accompanied by a hostile discourse related to the unwanted, particularly asylum seekers. This is shown to have created an immigration politics in which hostility has been institutionalised and has expanded beyond those initially identified as unwanted to include other categories of migrants. This, it is argued, has implications for the Government's future aims with regard to the wanted migrants, but also for the lives of those migrants who live in Britain.

This book discusses the demand for migrant labour both conceptually and empirically with a focus on the UK.

This document sets out the Governments proposals for a new points-based approach to managing the flow of migrants coming to the UK to work or study. Whilst it is generally agreed that migration makes a substantial contribution to economic growth, fills gaps in the labour market, and increases investment, innovation and entrepreneurship, and enriches cultural diversity, it needs to be managed. The Government proposes a five-tier framework, to help people understand how the system works and to direct applicants to the category that is most appropriate for them. The tiers are: (1) highly skilled individuals to contribute to growth and productivity; (2) skilled workers with a job offer to fill gaps in the UK labour force; (3) limited numbers of low skilled workers needed to fill specific temporary labour shortages; (4) students; (5) youth mobility and temporary workers, people allowed to work in the UK for a limited period of time to satisfy primarily non-economic objectives. For each tier applicants will need sufficient points to obtain entry clearance or leave to remain in the UK. Points will be awarded according to objective and transparent criteria, giving a structured decision-making process. Applicants in tiers 2 to 5 will need a certificate of sponsorship. The Government aims for a system that better identifies and attracts migrants who have most to offer the UK; is more efficient, transparent and objective; and that improves compliance and reduces the scope for abuse.