"It makes me feel ashamed to be British”
The Home Secretary James Cleverly has been condemned after boasting about the new government scheme to ban overseas care workers from bringing their dependents to the UK.
Yesterday the Government laid down an order in Parliament for the scheme to ban workers coming for employment in the UK care sector from bringing loved ones with them.
Despite coming to the country to fill vacancies in a sector struggling with worker shortages due to low wages and conditions, workers are being asked to leave their own families behind for the privilege.
Commenting on the progression of the plan, James Cleverly wrote on X: “This is just one part of our plan to deliver the biggest-ever cut in migration”.
However his comments sparked wide criticism, as LBC presenter James O’Brien came out and condemned the Home Secretary on his show today, saying it made him feel “ashamed to be British”.
Responding to Cleverly’s post, the broadcaster said: “You are casting your net from a sector that is crying out for staff, you’re casting it all around the world.
“Trying to tempt people to come to your country to look after your elderly, sick and vulnerable and you’re telling them, ‘you can come and care for my family but you won’t be allowed to care for your own, you’ll have to leave your children’.
“It makes me feel ashamed to be British.”
O’Brien accused the government of treating the workers as “second class citizens” and added, “I think that’s a fairly neat description of racism”.
Care worker pay is among the lowest in the economy with limited opportunities for career progression whilst demand for the work is only expected to rise, the government’s own research has shown.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer pointed out the ongoing shortfall in social care workers in the UK, which remains high compared to the wider UK economy, as reported in the House of Commons library.
SNP leader at Westminster Stephen Flynn described the scheme as “populist idiocy” on X in response to Cleverly’s post, as the leader wrote it would, “damage the care sector, the NHS and the economy.”
Health unions have blasted the “cruel” plan for “tearing apart families to score political points” and stressed that it would only exacerbate a dire workforce crisis.
(Image credit: Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street)
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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