UK to overhaul immigration policies as net migration hits record high
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged significant reforms to the UK’s immigration system following record-high net migration figures.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that net migration exceeded 900,000 in the year to June 2023, a surge Starmer attributed to failures of the previous Conservative government.
“Time and again, the Conservative Party promised they would get the numbers down. Time and again, they failed,” Starmer 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 criticized the Conservatives’ points-based immigration system, introduced post-Brexit in 2021, which assigns points based on skills and qualifications. He argued the system has left the economy overly dependent on foreign labour.
“Our economy [is] hopelessly reliant on immigration,” he noted. The Migration Advisory Committee is reviewing over-reliant sectors, and Starmer announced plans to reform visa routes with stricter training expectations for local workers. Businesses not complying with the new regulations would be barred from hiring overseas labour.
The ONS reported immigration numbers dropping to 728,000 for the year ending June 2024, partly due to rule changes for dependants of study visa holders. The 2023 spike was attributed to improved data availability and visas for Ukrainians.
Additionally, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper signed a “world first” agreement with Iraq to combat smuggling gangs and bolster border security, marking a key operational milestone.
