Sweeping changes to immigration announced to tackle 'shockingly high' numbers
The Prime Minister yesterday announced wide-scale changes to the immigration system, after what he called ‘shockingly high’ figures were released showing net migration hit a record of 906,000 under the previous Government.
He accused the Conservatives of running “a one-nation experiment in open borders”.
Sir Keir told a Downing Street press conference that his Government would publish plans “imminently”, in the form of a white paper, to bring down the number of people entering the UK.
He also said this would look at which areas of the economy needed additional training to meet skills demands.
He strongly criticised the previous government, saying the quadrupling of net migration since 2019 had been a deliberate policy of the Conservatives.
He said: “Failure on this scale isn’t just bad luck. It isn’t a global trend or taking your eye off the ball.
“No, this is a different order of failure. This happened by design, not accident.
“Policies were reformed deliberately to liberalise immigration.
“Brexit was used for that purpose, to turn Britain into a one-nation experiment in open borders.”
Yesterday’s press conference followed the publication of figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that showed the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country reached the higher than previously thought peak in the 12 months to June last year, after being revised up 166,000 from the initial estimate of 740,000.
The estimates, covering the previous Conservative government’s administration before the general election, have since dropped by 20 per cent and stood at 728,000 in the latest period for the year to June 2024.
The figures come after new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch admitted her party had failed on migration.
In a speech on Wednesday, Ms Badenoch said there had been a “collective failure of political leaders from all parties over decades” to grasp migration, adding: “On behalf of the Conservative Party, it is right that I as the new leader accept responsibility and say truthfully, we got this wrong.
“I more than understand the public anger on this issue. I share it.”
But Sir Keir said she had provided only a “chorus of excuses”.
In his press conference, he said the Government would reform the points-based immigration system to require companies employing foreign workers to also train British people, as well as crack down on abuse of the visa system.
He said: “Let me say directly to the people watching, where the last government failed you, this one will not. They drove immigration numbers up. We will get them down.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also announced a “landmark” deal with Iraq, intended to crack down on people smuggling and boost border security.
The UK will provide up to £300,000 for Iraq law enforcement training in border security, with money to tackle organised crime and a new irregular migration and border security taskforce.