Cable reopens rift on immigration cap

Business secretary Vince Cable appeared to be on a collision course with his coalition partners this afternoon, hitting out at the immigration cap and veering off line on the deficit.

Vince-Cable Responding to a question from Left Foot Forward at the Konigswinter 60th anniversary conference, he described the immigration cap as “doing great damage”, and said he was “at the limit of collective responsibility”.

He cited the example of a British-based company that needs 500 specialists over a three-year period, explaining that half of these had to come from outside the European Union – yet the company had only been given a quota of 30.

Dr Cable then said he was “not willing” to defend the system at present, and said he would be making more comments on the issue tomorrow.

Recently, businesses have warned of the damage the immigration cap is doing, while one of the country’s most senior Conservatives, London Mayor Boris Johnson, this week branded the cap “a shambles”, pointing out how everyone from law firms to universities and cancer research institutes were suffering from the policy.

Also at the conference, former Chancellor, Alistair Darling, challenged Cable on the government’s preferred way of bringing down the deficit, to which he responded by saying he and the shadow Chancellor were “not arguing about fundamental differences of philosophy”.

http://twitter.com/4harrisons/status/24680654390 peter harrison

Interesting: RT @leftfootfwd: Cable reopens rift on immigration cap: http://bit.ly/c7qJgG reveals @wdjstraw
http://bestblogs.labourhome.org/2010/09/16/cable-reopens-rift-on-immigration-cap/ Cable reopens rift on immigration cap « The best Labour blogs

[...] More… [...]
http://twitter.com/ben_murray/status/24693617350 ben_murray

RT @leftfootfwd: Cable reopens rift on immigration cap http://bit.ly/c7qJgG
http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/09/cable-says-he-is-at-the-limit-of-collective-responsibility/ Cable says he is “at the limit of collective responsibility” | Westminster Blog | FT.com

[...] Vince Cable has stepped up his rhetoric against his own coalition government in a speech today which he used to criticise its immigration policy. [...]
http://twitter.com/wdjstraw/status/24737243453 Will Straw

Vince Cable's latest intervention on immigration – broken first by @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/c7qJgG
http://twitter.com/clairee_french/status/24737270925 Claire French

RT @wdjstraw: Vince Cable's latest intervention on immigration – broken first by @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/c7qJgG
http://twitter.com/vriyait/status/24737353521 Vijay Singh Riyait

RT @wdjstraw: Vince Cable's latest intervention on immigration – broken first by @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/c7qJgG
http://twitter.com/tim_pw/status/24737366207 Tim Phillips-White

RT @wdjstraw: Vince Cable's latest intervention on immigration – broken first by @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/c7qJgG
http://twitter.com/beaubilly10/status/24737517075 fljf

RT @wdjstraw: Vince Cable's latest intervention on immigration – broken first by @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/c7qJgG
http://twitter.com/parsingphase/status/24737757691 Richard George

Some sense on immigration from @vincecable, even if he does think everthing's about business. http://bit.ly/d7xlEC
http://twitter.com/andy_s_64/status/24737774045 Andy Sutherland

RT @wdjstraw: Vince Cable's latest intervention on immigration – broken first by @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/c7qJgG
http://twitter.com/dontplaymepayme/status/24738603489 dontplaymepayme

RT @wdjstraw: Vince Cable's latest intervention on immigration – broken first by @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/c7qJgG
http://cgilbey141@googlemail.com Colin Gilbey

So, we educate young people up to university entrance standard ( well we used to ) and now make it ever more difficult for them to go, while advertising round the world to fill the plumb professional and research places. Is this really the way to build a stable, “integrated” society for the future? The BNP, EDL etc must think its Christmas.
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/04/david-cameron-advocating-bnp-policy/ BNP: Cameron “advocating BNP policy” | Left Foot Forward

[...] immigration cap, including on a trip to India last July, and again in September; as Will Straw reported: “Responding to a question from Left Foot Forward at the Konigswinter 60th anniversary [...]