MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The UK Institute of Directors (IoD) business organization on Thursday called for calm and a measured debate on migration and UK membership of the European Union in the wake of the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures indicating rising migration to the United Kingdom.
"It is important to take a step back and remind ourselves immigration is a much broader question than just the EU referendum…It is clear we need a migration policy fit for the 21st century. The IoD has called for a Comprehensive Immigration Review to allow for clear headed thinking on future migration policy and to examine this issue, in all its complexity, away from the separate issue that is the EU debate," IoD Head of Employment and Skills Seamus Nevin was quoted as saying in a press release.
A Brexit would leave the country with a large skills gap, especially in the areas of science and engineering, Nevin said, stressing that neither supporters nor opponents of continued EU membership have addressed the issue of post-Brexit migration rules.
UK citizens are set to vote on June 23 in a referendum on the country's EU membership, after Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of the 27 other EU member states reached a deal in February to grant the United Kingdom a special status within the bloc, which includes restricting social benefits available to EU migrants. Brexit supporters have argued that continued membership of the bloc will cause up to hundreds of thousands of EU citizens to arrive in the country annually.
