Why Scotland needs to control its own talent strategy
This isn't a theory. Other countries like Canada and Australia allow migration to be devolved - Quebec passes a list of skilled workers to the equivalent of the Home Office for Quebec visas.
But Westminster politicians only sneer at this idea - they stupidly believe that talented professionals on Scottish visas would abandon a secure job with access to health care and education to work illegally in the black economy in England.
Instead, Westminster offers tinkering - perhaps a Scottish seat on a UK committee, perhaps a pilot - while rejecting a distinct Scottish route.
Who benefits from the current one-size-fits-England policy? Not Scottish firms that need a robotics engineer at £35k, or a solicitor trainee, or a theatre lighting designer. Care homes in the Western or Northern Isles are desperate for staff who can bring children, stabilise school rolls, and keep the local shop open. Not farmers who need pickers when the crop is ready, not when Whitehall’s quota allows. And not universities already cross-subsidising research and home students from international fees.
A Scottish migration system - stable, family-friendly, and tuned to reality - would pay for itself many times over. More workers mean more tax revenue to fund the NHS and schools; more families mean fuller classrooms and safer services; more founders and graduates mean higher productivity and better wages. Growth is people. Without the power to attract and keep the people we need, every other economic promise is a wish.
Independence is not a slogan here; it is a practical tool. With it, Scotland can set the rules, fill the shifts, keep the surgeries open, pick the harvest, build the products, and bring life back to towns that are now losing it. The choice is stark: continue with a migration policy written for another country’s politics, or take responsibility for a talent strategy that keeps businesses competitive and communities thriving.