UK’s Starmer introduces sweeping immigration reforms

London — Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised on Monday to cut net migration to Britain significantly over the next four years, saying the country risked becoming “an island of strangers” if it could not maintain social cohesion.

Controlling immigration was a key factor in Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the EU, yet net arrivals reached record levels after it left the bloc, helping to boost Nigel Farage’s right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party.

In a sweeping set of immigration reforms, the government said it would increase English-speaking requirements for immigrants, make it harder for them to stay in the country, and prevent companies including care homes from recruiting abroad.

Automatic citizenship will only be granted to someone who has lived in Britain for 10 years, not five, and skilled worker visas will be restricted to graduate-level applicants.

Stagnated

“Make no mistake, this plan means migration will fall. That is a promise,” Starmer told reporters in Downing Street “If we do need to take further steps... then mark my words, we will.”

He also rejected suggestions from business leaders that the tighter immigration rules would harm Britain’s economy, saying growth had stagnated in recent years while immigration surged.

“The theory that higher migration numbers necessarily lead to higher growth has been tested in the last four years,” he said. “That link doesn’t hold on that evidence.”

But he refused to set a target for net migration cuts, saying previous promises to do so had failed.

While the current plans have been in the works for months, government officials acknowledge they need to do more to address voters’ concerns about the high levels of immigration after Reform won the most seats in English local elections this month and opened a big lead in opinion polls.

Apologise

Migration has long been a burning issue for British voters, with critics arguing that social cohesion can be damaged if the country does not build enough houses or public services to accommodate a larger population.

Starmer said nations depend on rules that set out rights and responsibilities, adding: “Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.”

Refugee charity Care4Calais accused Starmer of fanning support for the far-right with such “dangerous language”.

Its CEO Steve Smith, recalling far-right riots in several British cities last year, said: “(Starmer) risks further race riots that endanger survivors of horrors such as war, torture and modern slavery. Starmer must apologise.”

Migration

Many business sectors, including the adult care sector, argue they cannot hire enough staff locally, and employers in science, technology and other areas warn that tough restrictions will damage their potential and hit overall economic growth.

Higher net numbers of foreign students, along with a rise in people arriving from Ukraine and Hong Kong, led immigration numbers to quadruple in the years after Brexit.

Net migration — the number of people coming to Britain minus the number leaving — hit a record 906,000 in the year to June 2023, up from 184,000 who arrived in the same period during 2019, when Britain was still in the EU.

Farage and some in the main opposition Conservative Party have suggested that leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is the only way to deal with record numbers of asylum seekers arriving in small boats from France.

Starmer said his government did not intend to leave the ECHR, but that he would look at adjusting the interpretation of the convention’s article 8 on respect for family life.

Reuters