Right-wing think tank calls for sale of UK visas to highest bidders
A group of right-wing Conservative MPs has issued a report which suggests that the UK government should raise money and diversify its economy away from its dependence on the European Union by selling visas to rich individuals and international companies.
The Free Enterprise Group is a recently formed group of 43 Conservative MPs. Its website says that 'Conservatives need to recast the argument about free enterprise for a new age or risk losing the debate to a tide of anti-market socialization'.
The report, The Innovation Economy – Industrial Policy for the 21st Century, was written by George Freeman MP and Kwasi Kwarteng MP. Mr Kwarteng is the old Etonian son of Ghanaian parents who immigrated to the UK in the 1960s as students.
The report's premise is that the UK's economy has become increasingly 'unbalanced' in recent years because it is 'overly dependent on the City and cheap credit, unsustainable rises in public sector spending and trading with the sclerotic Euro zone'.
The report suggests three measures to help the UK economy prosper through innovation. It suggests
• Unleashing private sector enterprise
• Unlocking the economic value of the public sector and
• Diversifying trade away from the EU to the global economy
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