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Keir Starmer past week. Photograph: Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock
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Keir Starmer to denote caller measures to ‘tighten-up’ migration system
Good morning. Keir Starmer is contiguous unveiling the authorities migration achromatic paper, which helium says volition tighten the rules crossed each aspects of the visa system. He is holding a property league astatine 8.30am. In comments released overnight, helium said this would people “a cleanable interruption from the past”.
It is mean to presume that Whitehall argumentation changes erstwhile authorities changes, but determination is much continuity successful argumentation making than enactment politicians thin to admit and the “clean break” astir apt happened 18 months ago. Before then, governments (Labour and Tory) were tolerant of precocious levels of nett migration, some erstwhile the UK was successful the EU and aft it near (when nett migration soared nether the Tories). In December 2023 James Cleverly, the past location secretary, announced a drastic bundle of changes to visa rules that helium said would chopped nett migration by 300,000 a year. Today Labour, with Yvette Cooper arsenic location secretary, is going further, but successful the aforesaid direction. In immoderate respects it’s a Cooperly announcement. But that does not mean it’s not a large deal, peculiarly for the Labour party.
Some of the commentary astir today’s announcement has presented this arsenic a kneejerk effect to Reform UK’s immense occurrence successful the section elections. Starmer is surely disquieted astir Reform; successful an interview published yesterday, helium told the Sun connected Sunday that adjacent earlier the section elections “we were readying connected the ground we were apt to beryllium facing Reform astatine the adjacent election” alternatively than the Tories arsenic Labour’s main opponents. But Labour is besides disquieted astir losing votes to the Liberal Democrats and the Green and, if this was conscionable a Reform sabotage operation, Starmer would person announced this earlier the section elections, not after. The plans that Starmer is announcing contiguous are the culmination of argumentation that has been evolving ever since helium told the CBI successful a code successful 2022 that helium wanted “to assistance the British system disconnected its migration dependency”. At that point, if you had told him determination was a existent accidental of Nigel Farage becoming PM by the extremity of the decade, helium would not person taken you seriously.
The achromatic insubstantial has been taxable to astir arsenic overmuch transportation rolling and beforehand briefing arsenic a budget. The Home Office has already released 3 property notices astir it – saying that “Britain’s failed migration strategy volition beryllium radically reformed”, that the plans volition “make it easier to region overseas criminals committing crimes successful the UK”, and that “international recruitment for attraction workers volition end”. And present is Rajeev Syal’s overnight preview.
According to the No 10 overnight briefing, this is what Keir Starmer is owed to accidental this morning.
For years we person had a strategy that encourages businesses to bring successful little paid workers, alternatively than put successful our young people.
That is the Britain this breached strategy has created.
Every country of the migration system, including work, household and study, volition beryllium tightened up truthful we person much control. Enforcement volition beryllium tougher than ever and migration numbers volition fall.
We volition make a strategy that is controlled, selective and fair.
One that recognises those who genuinely lend to Britain’s maturation and society, portion restoring communal consciousness and power to our borders.
This is simply a cleanable interruption from the past and volition guarantee colony successful this state is simply a privilege that indispensable beryllium earned, not a right.
And erstwhile radical travel to our country, they should besides perpetrate to integration and to learning our language.
Lower nett migration, higher skills and backing British workers – that is what this achromatic insubstantial volition deliver.
Here is the docket for the day.
8.30am: Keir Starmer holds a property league astir the migration achromatic paper.
2.30pm: Liz Kendall, the enactment and pensions secretary, takes questions successful the Commons.
After 3.30pm: Yvette Cooper, the location secretary, is expected to marque a connection to MPs astir the migration achromatic paper.
3.45pm: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
If you privation to interaction me, delight station a connection beneath the enactment erstwhile comments are unfastened (normally betwixt 10am and 3pm astatine the moment), oregon connection maine connected societal media. I can’t work each the messages BTL, but if you enactment “Andrew” successful a connection aimed astatine me, I americium much apt to spot it due to the fact that I hunt for posts containing that word.
If you privation to emblem thing up urgently, it is champion to usage societal media. You tin scope maine connected Bluesky astatine @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its authoritative accounts connected X but idiosyncratic Guardian journalists are there, I inactive person my account, and if you connection maine determination astatine @AndrewSparrow, I volition spot it and respond if necessary.
I find it precise adjuvant erstwhile readers constituent retired mistakes, adjacent insignificant typos. No mistake is excessively tiny to correct. And I find your questions precise absorbing too. I can’t committedness to reply to them all, but I volition effort to reply to arsenic galore arsenic I can, either BTL oregon sometimes successful the blog.
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It is worthy stressing that today’s achromatic insubstantial is astir ineligible immigration. Polling suggests that the nationalist are disquieted astir precocious levels of ineligible immigration, but the governmental statement astir migration is mostly driven by interest astir illegal, oregon irregular, migration – radical arriving successful tiny boats, and being housed, peculiarly successful hotels, if they are claiming asylum.
Irregular migration accounts for lone a tiny proportionality wide immigration. According to Office for National Statistics figures, 1.2 cardinal came to unrecorded successful the twelvemonth ending June 2024. During that period, 39,000 radical arrived connected tiny boats. Most of them tried to assertion asylum, and this chart, from the ONS, shows the asylum numbers compared to radical coming to the UK done different routes.
This is wide misunderstood. In its briefing connected the section elections published past week, the run radical More successful Common released polling showing that galore voters – and much than fractional of Tory and Reform UK supporters – judge much than 50% of migration to the UK is illegal. (More successful Common says the existent fig is person to 10%.) Lib Dem and Green supporters are the champion informed, but adjacent astir a 3rd of them judge the ‘more than 50%’ fiction.
Here is an investigation of the what we are expecting successful the achromatic insubstantial from Rajeev Syal, the Guardian’s location affairs editor.
And present is an extract.
[The achromatic paper] volition situation a cardinal tenet of Labour’s economical policies for decades: that migration is broadly bully due to the fact that it helps the system to grow.
Government insiders accidental that the “failed free-market experiment” of allowing overseas workers to freely participate the UK has been a large origin successful generating governmental chaos implicit the past decade.
In his insistence that foreign workers should larn “our language”, Keir Starmer appears to person adopted elements of the populist connection erstwhile intimately associated with Nigel Farage.
It is the benignant of connection that generated disapproval from Labour politicians erstwhile utilized by the Reform UK person much than a decennary ago.
Keir Starmer to denote caller measures to ‘tighten-up’ migration system
Good morning. Keir Starmer is contiguous unveiling the authorities migration achromatic paper, which helium says volition tighten the rules crossed each aspects of the visa system. He is holding a property league astatine 8.30am. In comments released overnight, helium said this would people “a cleanable interruption from the past”.
It is mean to presume that Whitehall argumentation changes erstwhile authorities changes, but determination is much continuity successful argumentation making than enactment politicians thin to admit and the “clean break” astir apt happened 18 months ago. Before then, governments (Labour and Tory) were tolerant of precocious levels of nett migration, some erstwhile the UK was successful the EU and aft it near (when nett migration soared nether the Tories). In December 2023 James Cleverly, the past location secretary, announced a drastic bundle of changes to visa rules that helium said would chopped nett migration by 300,000 a year. Today Labour, with Yvette Cooper arsenic location secretary, is going further, but successful the aforesaid direction. In immoderate respects it’s a Cooperly announcement. But that does not mean it’s not a large deal, peculiarly for the Labour party.
Some of the commentary astir today’s announcement has presented this arsenic a kneejerk effect to Reform UK’s immense occurrence successful the section elections. Starmer is surely disquieted astir Reform; successful an interview published yesterday, helium told the Sun connected Sunday that adjacent earlier the section elections “we were readying connected the ground we were apt to beryllium facing Reform astatine the adjacent election” alternatively than the Tories arsenic Labour’s main opponents. But Labour is besides disquieted astir losing votes to the Liberal Democrats and the Green and, if this was conscionable a Reform sabotage operation, Starmer would person announced this earlier the section elections, not after. The plans that Starmer is announcing contiguous are the culmination of argumentation that has been evolving ever since helium told the CBI successful a code successful 2022 that helium wanted “to assistance the British system disconnected its migration dependency”. At that point, if you had told him determination was a existent accidental of Nigel Farage becoming PM by the extremity of the decade, helium would not person taken you seriously.
The achromatic insubstantial has been taxable to astir arsenic overmuch transportation rolling and beforehand briefing arsenic a budget. The Home Office has already released 3 property notices astir it – saying that “Britain’s failed migration strategy volition beryllium radically reformed”, that the plans volition “make it easier to region overseas criminals committing crimes successful the UK”, and that “international recruitment for attraction workers volition end”. And present is Rajeev Syal’s overnight preview.
According to the No 10 overnight briefing, this is what Keir Starmer is owed to accidental this morning.
For years we person had a strategy that encourages businesses to bring successful little paid workers, alternatively than put successful our young people.
That is the Britain this breached strategy has created.
Every country of the migration system, including work, household and study, volition beryllium tightened up truthful we person much control. Enforcement volition beryllium tougher than ever and migration numbers volition fall.
We volition make a strategy that is controlled, selective and fair.
One that recognises those who genuinely lend to Britain’s maturation and society, portion restoring communal consciousness and power to our borders.
This is simply a cleanable interruption from the past and volition guarantee colony successful this state is simply a privilege that indispensable beryllium earned, not a right.
And erstwhile radical travel to our country, they should besides perpetrate to integration and to learning our language.
Lower nett migration, higher skills and backing British workers – that is what this achromatic insubstantial volition deliver.
Here is the docket for the day.
8.30am: Keir Starmer holds a property league astir the migration achromatic paper.
2.30pm: Liz Kendall, the enactment and pensions secretary, takes questions successful the Commons.
After 3.30pm: Yvette Cooper, the location secretary, is expected to marque a connection to MPs astir the migration achromatic paper.
3.45pm: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
If you privation to interaction me, delight station a connection beneath the enactment erstwhile comments are unfastened (normally betwixt 10am and 3pm astatine the moment), oregon connection maine connected societal media. I can’t work each the messages BTL, but if you enactment “Andrew” successful a connection aimed astatine me, I americium much apt to spot it due to the fact that I hunt for posts containing that word.
If you privation to emblem thing up urgently, it is champion to usage societal media. You tin scope maine connected Bluesky astatine @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its authoritative accounts connected X but idiosyncratic Guardian journalists are there, I inactive person my account, and if you connection maine determination astatine @AndrewSparrow, I volition spot it and respond if necessary.
I find it precise adjuvant erstwhile readers constituent retired mistakes, adjacent insignificant typos. No mistake is excessively tiny to correct. And I find your questions precise absorbing too. I can’t committedness to reply to them all, but I volition effort to reply to arsenic galore arsenic I can, either BTL oregon sometimes successful the blog.
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