The problem with kicking out migrant workers (which is effectively what's happened, and what "taking back control" was sold as) is we have major industries unab

The problem with kicking out migrant workers (which is effectively what's happened, and what "taking back control" was sold as) is we have major industries unable to hire. Construction is steeply overpaying low-skilled jobs when it can find people. Care is unable to hire, quickly extinguishing hospitals' ability to discharge and admit. Agriculture has seen a massive seasonal pinch; crops have spoiled because the traditional seasonal workers have been unable (and then unwilling) to deign themselves to the increased bureaucracy. I know we didn't actually kick people out and we [now] have exceptions for most of the jobs I've mentioned… but that's the effect when you limit movement. Long-term planning and COVID conspired to force people towards certainty. Even the immediate aftermath of the vote saw a massive drop in migrant carers and seasonal workers. And we still have painfully little control over who crosses our borders. So this "control" you claim we have is both ineffective and smothering this country. It's far from "just" the halving of our financial sector. Being a member of the EU guaranteed some level of freedom for migrant workers. It was a selling point for migrating in the first place. It's imperative we understand that just offering specific job exceptions isn't enough for lower-skilled jobs, and that our country will simply fail if we carry on letting that work go undone.