Brexit was such a major self-own. They thought they were gatekeeping “low-skilled” workers (which is stupid, because they need them). But also the UK is currently losing “high-skilled” workers to places like the US where the pay is better. Previously, “high-skilled” workers from the EU would in turn relocate to UK for higher pay. But now that they’ve replaced free movement with a lengthy visa process, a lot will just relocate to other EU countries that still have free movement, or the US where they can make far more. They really swapped ease of access with trying to compete for visa applicants with countries like US/AU/NZ, which are infinitely more appealing.
