Tory MPs' On The Skills Gap

The majority of Conservative MPs dismiss economic migration as a way of plugging UK skills gaps, according to new MORI research for Skills for Business.

Fewer than two in 10 Tory MPs support economic migration as a means to reduce Britain's skills shortages. This contradicts the views of MPs in the other two main political parties, the majority of whom believe that economic migration should be encouraged to close the UK's skills gap.

Specific findings from the report, conducted by MORI, showed that:

• Nine in 10 Labour MPs (87%) and all 13 Liberal Democrat MPs interviewed agree that economic migration should be used to plug skills shortages in the UK
• Over eight in 10 Conservative MPs (85%) agree that the limited skills available in the current workplace are constraining UK employers from producing more complex products or better services
• Three in four Tory MPs believe that the gap between the skills we need and the skills we have among our workforce is growing
• Conservative MPs tend to feel that employers are best placed to judge the education and skills needs of the UK (82% agree with none disagreeing). Labour and Liberal Democrat support for this is much lower (17% of Labour MPs agree while 39% disagree; 31% of Liberal Democrat MPs agree with 31% disagreeing)

The findings come at the time of the Conservative party conference in Blackpool and show the Tory MPs promoting employers as the key to solving the skills problem.

Q To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements? Base: Conservative MPs (29)

Technical details

This presents the topline findings of the Summer 2005 Study of Britain's Members of Parliament, part of MORI's programme of regular multi-sponsored studies among key audiences. Fieldwork dates: 7 June - 1 August 2005. Sample: 98 MPs representative of the House by party and bench (53 Labour, 29 Conservative and 13 Liberal Democrat MPs).