The New Labour Government and its Impact on the Construction Industry

The new Labour government has announced ambitious plans involving the construction industry. Given that the construction industry has historically been heavily reliant on migrant labour, the government’s proposals are very likely to have a knock-on effect for business immigration.

Keir Starmer has released an optimistic target of building 1.5 million new homes for England over the next 5 years. Additionally, Labour’s plans include significantly increasing investment in public infrastructure, with the hope of modernising the UK’s transport, energy and digital networks as part of an overarching strategy to improve public services and boost economic growth. Such huge targets will result in an increase of construction projects for the industry and consequently will create an abundance of new opportunities and jobs within the industry. If Starmer is to meet his ambitious targets, an estimated 251,000 additional workers are needed by 2028. However this comes at a time where the number of construction workers has fallen by 14% since 2019 – highlighting the ever pressing need for the new jobs to be filled.

What does this mean from a business immigration perspective?

Historically, the construction industry has relied on migrant workers to fulfil peaks in demand, therefore, with Labour requiring drastic increases in construction industry workers to fulfil their targets, it seems probable that Labour will have to rely on an increase in migrant workers. However, Labour have indicated that as opposed to relying on overseas workers, their focus will be on upskilling workers that are already in the UK. They want to see significant changes in place across the economy to reduce reliance on overseas workers. The government has said that it will establish ‘Skills England’ to bring together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions in providing strategic oversight of the post – 16 skills system aligned with the government’s industrial strategy. Skills England, by working alongside the Migration Advisory Committee will aim to reduce the reliance on overseas workers.

That being said, approximately 10% of workers in the UK construction industry are non-UK citizens and the construction sector has experienced a loss of around 300,000 workers in the previous five years. As a result of this, Labour is projected to miss out on its target of building 1.5 million homes over the next 5 years by 40%.  With Starmer’s emphasis on home workers, meeting these targets will likely prove even more difficult. For reference, 31% of construction employers noted that finding suitably skilled staff remained their primary challenge, this challenge is unlikely to change unless Starmer removes the emphasis on utilising home workers as opposed to overseas workers. His vision of delivering projects from a pool of home labour seems simply impossible within the UK’s construction industry given that it has always been heavily reliant on migrant labour – especially during peaks in demand. Consequently, from a business immigration perspective and if Labour is to meet its targets, recruiting more overseas construction workers appears to be paramount.