Sir Keir Starmer announces plans to lower legal migration
Labour has announced its plans to reduce net migration – with Sir Keir Starmer accusing the Conservatives of having “repeatedly broken their promises” to get the number down.
It marks another attempt by the Labour Party to appeal to Conservative voters.
Figures published after Rishi Sunak called the general election showed a net of 685,000 arrived in the UK last year – down from a record of 764,000 in 2022.
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The 2023 figure is still three times the number in 2019 when the last election took place. The Conservatives promised in their manifesto that year to get net migration down.
In 2012, when the data from the Office for National Statistics starts, net migration was just under 200,000.
Sir Keir said he wanted to see any government he leads ban “the practices employed by businesses who exploit the migration system by illegally undercutting working conditions”.
The announcement tonight mirrors policies proposed by shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper in November last year, and some bear similarities to current government objectives.
Sir Keir added: “With Labour, Britain will be less reliant on migration by training more UK workers.
“The Tories have repeatedly broken their promises to bring down net migration. Since 2010, they have published four manifestos promising to bring down net migration.”
The Labour leader said he wants to compel parts of Whitehall to cooperate so “migration triggers a plan to train UK workers and improve jobs”.
Labour is trying to outflank the Conservatives on migration. Pic: Reuters
Employment sectors like health and construction that have been reliant on migration to fill “skill gaps” will be made to draw up workforce plans, with another pledge to reform the points-based migration system.
The aim, according to Labour, is to “fire up skills training rather than look overseas”.
One pledge is to ban employers and agencies that break employment law from hiring overseas workers.
Another is to stop the “workplace exploitation” of foreign workers being used to undercut wages.
Some in the Conservative Party have claimed Labour are rebranding policies the government has already enacted.
The government previously pledged to increase the threshold on salaries required for visas, and pledged to scrap “cut-price shortage labour from overseas” by scrapping discounts to visa salary requirements for those in short-staffed sectors.
Those employers looking to get on the shortage occupation list have to show they are also training domestic workers.
Conservative candidate Jonathan Gullis tweeted that “nobody buys” Sir Keir’s plans.
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A spokesperson for Reform UK, which is campaigning heavily on reducing immigration, said: “Sir Keir’s first suggestion is to prosecute a law that already exists about illegally paying below minimum wage, the other is a pious wish.
“Labours offer is nothing new and will make no difference. If you want to make a change, Vote Reform to freeze immigration.”
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The Home Office has lost a Court of Appeal bid to challenge a High Court ruling granting an Eritrean man a temporary block on being deported to France.
The ruling will be a blow to ministers, who had been hoping to make headway with their “one in, one out” migrant returns deal with France.
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Under the deal, the UK can send back any migrant who crosses the Channel illegally in return for accepting the same number of migrants in France who have a valid asylum claim here.
However, only four people have been deported under the scheme so far, including one Afghan individual who was deported to France this afternoon.
The Eritrean man was granted a temporary block on his removal after he claimed he had been a victim of modern slavery.
The government has said up to 50 people a week could be deported under the scheme initially, but it believes numbers would grow and eventually act as a deterrent to those considering making the dangerous journey across the Channel.
Last Friday saw more than 1,000 people cross the Channel to the UK in small boats – the day after the first migrant was deported under the “one in, one out” deal.
The latest Home Office figures show 1,072 people made the journey in 13 boats – averaging more than 82 people per boat. It means the number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel has topped 30,000 for the year so far.
Migrants arrive at Dover. Pic: PA
Shabana Mahmood, who was promoted to home secretary in the prime minister’s reshuffle earlier this month, has accused migrants who try to block their deportation of making a “mockery” of the UK’s modern slavery laws.
She has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to end crossings – but the Conservatives have branded the “one in, one out” deal with France “meagre” and have called for their Rwanda policy to be reinstated.
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Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “Yet again the courts have stepped in to block a deportation, proving what we warned from the start, unless you tackle the lawfare strangling Britain’s borders, nothing will change.
“This is nothing but a gimmick. Even if by some miracle it worked, it would still be no deterrent, as 94 per cent of arrivals would still stay.”
Meanwhile, Reform UK has promised to crack down on both legal and illegal migration.
Last month, party leader Nigel Farage outlined plans to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants in the first parliament of a potential Reform UK government.
On Monday, he announced fresh policies to reduce legal migration, saying his party would ban access to benefits to migrants and get rid of indefinite leave to remain – the term used to describe the right to settle in the UK, with access to benefits, after five years.
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