The Prime Minister’s plan is to “reform our approach to the labour market” to end the reliance on overseas workers.
Sir Keir Starmer has refused to set a net migration target (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer has refused to set a target for slashing net migration despite insisting he wants to “restore order”.
The Prime Minister’s plan is to “reform our approach to the labour market” to end the reliance on overseas workers.
He claimed restoring control of Britain’s border is a “foundational principle that any Government must do.”
Sir Keir has come under pressure for not making reducing immigration – or ending the Channel small boats crisis – one of the six “milestones” he wants the Government to be judged on.
On legal migration, the Prime Minister insisted: “We will restore order to the immigration system, reducing net migration from the record high levels seen in recent years by reforming our approach to the labour market, addressing skills shortages here in the UK and clamping down on employers who exploit the visa system.”
And the Prime Minister dodged questions from the Daily Express over the Chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee, Professor Brian Bell’s, prediction net migration would consistently run at 350,000 a year.
Keir Starmer says there has been an “arbitrary” target for 14 years (Image: Getty)
He added: “We are going to drive down migration. That will only be done with a serious plan.
“We wasted a lot of money removing four volunteers.
“For 14 years we had an arbitrary number. But it wasn’t a hard cap. We will not be following approach.”
Net migration hit an “astonishing” new record of 906,000 last year, heaping more pressure on housing, schools and GP surgeries.
Sir Keir has been warned Britain’s immigration crisis has led to “immense and lasting harm”.
The Prime Minister insisted both legal and illegal migration would fall as he faced repeated questions from journalists about why the issue did not feature in the milestones he had set out.
Sir Keir Starmer told reporters: “We are going to drive down migration, both legal and illegal. That will only be done with a serious plan.
“We had a gimmick for a number of years called Rwanda. What happened? The numbers went up. We wasted a lot of money – £700 million – removing four volunteers to Rwanda. It didn’t work.
“The only way to make it work is to smash the gangs that are running the vile trade and that’s why we’ve invested so much in setting up the command that is needed to do that.”
He added the British public wanted “a serious plan to ensure we’ve got control of our borders, not arbitrary caps, not gimmicks”.
Sir Keir had earlier described the most recent migration figures as “shocking” and claimed the issue it did not feature in his milestones as reducing migration was one of the “foundational things that a government must do”.
Sir Keir was told that he had not set out a “milestone” on curbing immigration.
Asked if it was therefore not a priority, the Prime Minister said that border control “must be delivered”.
“That is a foundational principle that any government must do,” he added.
The Office for National Statistics said net migration to the UK hit 906,000 in the year to June 2023, amid an influx of foreign students, a spike in non-EU workers, particularly in the health and social care sectors and the introduction of the Ukraine and Hong Kong refugee visa schemes.
But there was a glimmer of good news as the figures fell by 20 per cent in the year to June 2024 – to 728,000.
This was down to restrictions imposed on overseas students and care workers and an increase in the minimum salary threshold, experts said.
Analysis shows migrants from India, Nigeria, Pakistan, China and Zimbabwe made up the top five nationalities from outside the EU.
Former Home Secretary James Cleverly banned foreign care workers and students from bringing their family members with them.
And Mr Cleverly increased the minimum salary threshold needed to secure a work visa to £38,700.
Migrants must also earn £29,000 before they can bring their partners to the UK, under the changes.
The changes were predicted to bring net migration down by 300,000.
Analysing the figures, migration expert and Conservative MP Neil O’Brien warned that only “500,000” visas issued to 3.1 million people were to work in the UK.
And Sir Keir has said Britain’s asylum system “needs to be controlled and managed”.
Sir Keir’s reset plan states: “Britain is a tolerant and compassionate country, with a proud tradition of welcoming people fleeing persecution and abuse.
“But the system needs to be controlled and managed and we need strong borders.
“The small boats crisis, fuelled by dangerous organised criminal gangs, is undermining our security and costing lives.
“And the UK public needs to be confident that the rules are respected and enforced and that the overall immigration system is under control.”
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LBC Presenter Nick Ferrari asked Home Secretary Yvette Cooper this morning: “Is boarder control not a key milestone?”
She responded: “It is included in the document the Prime Minister will be setting out today, so it is as part of the Plan for Change.
“Because one of the other things we always said is, look, all of these things where we’re setting out, the mission, the milestones, they are underpinned by some foundations.
“The foundations include national security and border security, so it does include clear determination to make sure that, after the lack of controls of the last few years, that both legal migration and illegal migration need to be brought down, as part of just getting control back and restoring order to both the asylum and the immigration systems, so that will be included as part of the Plan for Change.”
Ms Cooper claimed she was fearful of a record number of Channel migrant crossings this year.
She said: “Nobody should be making these dangerous crossings. It undermines border security, and it puts lives at risk.
“We inherited the first half of the year the highest level, the first half of the year under the Conservatives [was] the highest level of crossings on record.
“I was concerned that that might continue through the course of the rest of the year.
“It hasn’t.
“We haven’t seen those record levels replicated through the rest of the year, but that’s no comfort when you’ve still got these criminal gangs making huge profits from really what is a trade in people.”
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