Keir Starmer unveils plans to change UK immigration system after record arrivals

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the government intends to overhaul the immigration system after new data showed arrivals to the country had hit a record high.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday put net migration at more than 900,000 in the year to June 2023, numbers Starmer blamed on the previous Conservative government.

“Time and again, the Conservative Party promised they would get the numbers down. Time and again, they failed,” he said.

“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.”

Starmer said his government plans to overhaul the points-based immigration brought in by the Conservatives in 2021 after Brexit.

That system gives applicants points for specific skills and qualifications, and those who don’t meet the threshold aren’t granted a visa.

A high level of legal migration into the UK was one of the driving forces behind the vote to withdraw from the European Union in 2016.

Starmer said that system had to change to favour British workers as “our economy [is] hopelessly reliant on immigration.”

“The Migration Advisory Committee is already conducting a review and where we find clear evidence of sectors that are over-reliant on immigration, we will reform the points-based system and make sure that applications for the relevant visa routes, whether it’s the skilled worker route or the shortage occupation list, will now come with new expectations on training people here in our country,” he said at a press conference in London.

Starmer also vowed to crack down on “abuse of the visa routes” and any businesses refusing to comply with the new regulations would be banned from hiring overseas labour.

Immigration is a divisive topic in the UK with many voters concerned about the strain on public services caused by a large influx of people.

But some sectors, including healthcare, argue they’d be unable to function without staff brought in from abroad.

The ONS said after the record-setting peak, immigration numbers fell to 728,000 for the year ending June 2024 due to falling numbers of dependants accompanying study visa holders following a change in the rules.

The office said the jump in 2023 was likely due to better availability of data and more detailed information about visas for Ukrainians.

Meanwhile, the British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has signed an agreement with Iraq to combat people smuggling gangs and strengthen border security.

Made during a three-day visit to Baghdad and Erbil, the deal is the largest operational effort against organised crime between the two countries.

Starmer described the agreement as a “world first”.