Silicon East End? Cameron announces ‘entrepeneur visa’
By Peter Wozniak
David Cameron has made an exception on the government’s immigration cap for foreign businessmen, as he promises to turn the East End of London into a new Silicon Valley.
The prime minister has made a speech in East London today outlining his plans to make Britain a centre for “creative innovation”.
Under what Mr Cameron calls ‘entrepeneur visas’, businessmen from abroad with “a great business idea” and “serious investment” backing will be able to bypass Britain’s toughening immigration laws.
The announcement of this exception comes a day after MPs ripped into the proposed immigration cap, saying it would harm business and have little appreciable effect on people coming to the UK – contradicting Mr Cameron’s promise to bring net immigration down to ‘tens of thousands’.
Pledging to turn East London into a genuine rival in enterprise to Silicon Valley, the prime minister said: “Right now, Silicon Valley is the leading place in the world for high-tech growth and innovation.
“But there’s no reason why it has to be so predominant.
“Our ambition is to bring together the creativity and energy of Shoreditch and the incredible possibilities of the Olympic Park to help make East London one of the world’s great technology centres.”
Mr Cameron claimed he has received an “overwhelming” response from investors promising to set up shop in the East End.
Britain’s intellectual property laws are also set for review under the plans announced today to “encourage the sort of creative innovation that exists in America”. Mr Cameron bemoaned the fact that the founders of Google would never have started their business in Britain.
The government has made much of its commitment to encouraging enterprise and making Britain “open for business”.
Today’s exemption from the immigration cap for some foreign investors is the first sign the coalition is scaling back its previously inflexible approach to the issue.
