Wes Streeting plans to increase high-skilled immigration if he becomes PM
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- Wes Streeting will unveil a global talent programme housed in No 10 with a £250m budget, aiming to recruit 20,000 world-leading scientists, AI experts and engineers over the next three years.
- Streeting explicitly framed the talent drive as an opportunity created by the Trump administration, saying: "Trump is saying to world-leading scientists, engineers, AI experts – you're not welcome here. I would tell them: we'll welcome you with open arms."
- Streeting's second policy proposal would hypothecate tax receipts from the contested Jackdaw and Rosebank North Sea oil and gas fields to fund insulation, heat pumps and electrification aimed at cutting bills and emissions.
- Streeting warned that blocking North Sea drilling on climate grounds alone would be "the route to Nigel Farage walking into Downing Street and destroying our renewables industry."
- Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, has come under "huge pressure" from the oil industry and opposition parties to approve production at Jackdaw and Rosebank, a position Streeting's proposal would partially adopt.
- Andy Burnham, Streeting's main rival for the Labour leadership, is standing in the Makerfield byelection on Thursday, where bookmakers rate him at 1/7 to win, and is expected to put public control of water and energy at the heart of his agenda.
Why it matters: Wes Streeting is tying his Labour leadership bid to two concrete policy bets: a £250m No 10 talent programme targeting 20,000 scientists in three years, and hypothecating tax receipts from the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil fields to cut energy bills. The framing challenges the Trump administration's science stance and Ed Miliband's North Sea position.
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