Ed Davey has urged Keir Starmer to create a new visa route so that Americans seeking to flee the Trump presidency.
The Lib Dem leader said it should target wealthy Americans so they can “bring their money and their skills” to the UK.
UK immigration lawyers said earlier this week that they have received a spike in inquiries from “mobile, wealthy individuals in tech, law, and the arts” who are “worried about socially conservative policies that Trump could introduce once in office” so they are wanting to move to other countries, such as Britain.
In PMQs, he asked: “An idea for the chancellor to grow the economy: as President-elect Trump prepares to take office next week, there are reports that a number of wealthy, highly-skilled Americans are looking to come to the UK for fear of what President-elect Trump will do to their country.
“But because the Conservatives so broke the immigration system, many of them are finding there is no visa that they can apply for.
“Now I know the Prime Minister is rightly seeking to reduce immigration from the record highs of the Conservatives, but does he agree: if people like this want to come to our country, to bring their money and their skills, so we can grow our economy and pay for our public services, they should be able to?”
While the prime minister has vowed to cut immigration, the government has previously been open to exceptions.
Replying to Davey, Keir Starmer said: “We welcome all investment into the United Kingdom, and I am very pleased to have record investment in the time that we have been in office.
“The last government lost control of immigration, as they lost control of health and the economy and the borders and everything else, and it was, of course, the leader of the opposition who was championing the driving up of the numbers.
“So we will bring those numbers down. We’ll get it back under control. We’ll encourage investment.”
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