Situations vacant: butchers, chefs, cancer scientists, deckhands and sheep shearers wanted.
Labour’s drastic cuts to net migration in response to growing pressure from Reform are beginning to bite in a range of industries, with further changes expected to pile on more pressure.
New visa restrictions and removals from the “temporary shortage list”, which allows certain industries to hire for specific roles, have hit middle-skilled jobs across a wide range of industries faster than domestic training and higher wages can address the problem.
Net migration has fallen by 78% in two years, dropping from a record peak of 944,000 in early 2023 to about 204,000 in the year ending in June last year. Grants for skilled worker visas, which include health and care sectors, fell by 57% in the year ending September 2025.
Writing in The Observer this week, Samra Turajlić, the head of Cancer Research UK’s Manchester Institute, calls on ministers to do more to ensure the best scientists can come to the UK without facing prohibitive costs and limited prospect of settled status.
“Fail to do so,” she warns, “and the cost will not only be measured in lost prestige – but in lost discoveries and, ultimately, lost lives to cancer.”
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood set out her immigration policy plans in a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research on Thursday, but resistance to her reforms is already growing among the parliamentary Labour party (PLP). The number of Labour MPs planning to oppose the plans has risen from 80 to 100 in the space of a week.
Tony Vaughan, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, coordinated a private letter from colleagues to Mahmood objecting to the plans.
“Over 100 Labour MPs signed my private letter to the home secretary, saying that the current proposals on ‘earned settlement’ and temporary refugee leave are not acceptable,” he said. “Given these numbers, and those who turned out for the debate on ILR last month, I would like to think the government will take on board the strength of feeling from the PLP about these proposals.”
Others said they expected No 10 to force a shift, not just in rhetoric, which has already begun, but on the final policy position.
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“There’s lots of anger,” said one minister. “Definitely feels like Shabana has lost the room which she needs to retain to get her legislation through … I would be very surprised if the policy position doesn’t shift by the time it is rolled out.”
A report from Oxford University’s Migration Observatory last month found that there was little evidence to support the government’s belief that employers would train and rely on domestic staff.
The report found that shortages are driven by poor pay and conditions, not just lack of skills, leaving sectors such as social care in limbo without domestic reform.
One of the staff shortages flagged in the report is among chefs. The UK’s £93bn hospitality industry has been repeatedly hit by changes in policy, according to Andrew Green, CEO of the Craft Guild of Chefs. Green said that Brexit had led to many foreign-born chefs heading home and that problems had been compounded by Covid.
“Since then trying to get chefs back into the country on visas is almost impossible, mainly due to government red tape and the need for sponsors,” Green said. “Even if you have these it is very hard to navigate the system.”
He said that a widespread shortage of chefs would have an effect on the sector’s contributions to the economy. “This will only shrink over a matter of time, and become increasingly hard to get back.”
The red meat industry is also struggling, with labour shortages meaning some sites are operating at 70%-80% capacity, according to Nan Jones, technical policy manager of the British Meat Processors Association.
She said that the industry had “demonstrated clear long-term strategic intent through apprenticeship reform” as well as recruitment investment and better pay, but called on the government to urgently add butchers to the temporary shortage list.
The UK fishing sector has also been hit, despite long-term efforts to recruit domestic workers. The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations has warned that incoming changes to visa requirements will cause the industry yet more problems.
Chief executive Mike Cohen said: “Changes to the skilled worker visa and a significant increase in the English language requirements will effectively make it impossible for fishing businesses to hire new workers from overseas from the end of 2026.
“There is no conceivable reason why deckhands on fishing boats should be required to possess a standard of written English proficiency that would enable them to study for an undergraduate degree, yet that is what the government has introduced. Fishermen need to be strong, hard-working and skilled. They are very seldom required to write essays.”
He added that a legal requirement for teenagers to stay in school until 18 had diverted a traditional stream of school leavers away from the trade.
The Home Office was approached for comment. The government has previously said: “Alongside major reforms announced by the home secretary to fix our broken immigration system, making sure people who come here contribute fully and give more than they take, we are building a structured, evidence-led approach covering skills, migration and wider labour market policies – including pay and conditions.”
Photograph by Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire