Immigration at heart of UK healthcare and election

LONDON: Britain´s state-funded National Health Service is hugely reliant on migrant workers, yet politicians have vowed to slash immigration as they fight for votes before Thursday´s general election.

The governing right-wing Conservatives and the main opposition centre-left Labour Party, which is tipped to win the national vote, each pledge action over the key battleground yet seek to safeguard the UK´s cherished but stretched NHS.

Conservatives want to hike the minimum salary required for a UK skilled-worker visa to crack down on the country´s record migration levels, but opponents argue this will worsen recruitment.

Labour wishes to recruit and train more UK staff, arguing that the NHS has been starved of cash by 14 years of Tory government and become too reliant on overseas staff.

The topic also grabbed voters´ attention after Brexit champion Nigel Farage last month took the helm of hard-right minority party Reform UK, which vows to freeze immigration altogether.

Yet from hospital wards and emergency departments to opticians and laboratories, foreign workers are vital to the NHS, which provides universal healthcare free at the point of delivery -- but has been plagued in recent years by strikes over pay.

Commentators and industry experts warn about curbing the inflow of health workers, while a London museum exhibition highlights their often-overlooked vital role.

“It´s an enormous institution, something like one in 10 workers in the UK works for the NHS,” said Matthew Plowright, communications director at the Migration Museum.