The Conservative Government's plan to build a fairer immigration system, cut unsustainable and unfair levels of migration is delivering, with the latest statistics showing numbers coming on the three biggest visa routes are down 24% - we must stick to the plan and not go back to square one.
Mass migration is unsustainable and unfair on the British people, which is why the Government is introducing the toughest ever reforms to our migration system that will cut the number of people coming to the UK by 300,000 every year. The plan is working, with new data showing numbers coming in on visas are down 24% and the number of dependants accompanying students to the UK down almost 80%. If we stick to the plan, we can build an immigration system that serves the interests of the British people.
An independent report found that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party would open the door to an extra 250,000 migrants to Britain every year. That’s because he doesn’t have a plan, taking us back to square one with uncontrolled immigration. Conservatives are sticking with the plan to build a fairer immigration system and stop the boats.
The Government has taken action to half net migration and cut the number of people coming to the UK by 300,000 and the plan is working:
- Numbers coming on the three biggest visa routes – Skilled Worker, Health and Care, and Study – are down 24%. The latest statistics for January – March 2024 show that numbers are down 24% compared to the same period last year.
- Banned overseas students from bringing family members to the UK – cutting numbers by 80%. From 1 January 2024, the Government removed the right to bring dependants on the student visa route for those other than on postgraduate research programmes. The latest data shows a nearly 80% fall in student dependant numbers in the first quarter of 2024, compared with the first three months of 2023.
- Ending abuse via the Health and Care Visa – with numbers already down by 28%. From 11 March 2024, the Government has stopped overseas care workers from bringing family dependants and requiring social care firms in England to be CQC registered to sponsor visas from March 2024. In the year ending September 2023,120,000 dependants came via this route. The latest data for January - March 2024 shows 28% fewer main applicants and dependents came on the Health and Care visa than in January – March 2023 – before these changes even came into effect.
- Stopped immigration undercutting British workers. From 4 April 2024, the Government has increased the minimum earnings threshold for skilled worker visas by 48%, to £38,700, in line with the median full-time wage for equivalent jobs.
- Scrapped overseas cut-price shortage labour. The Government scrapped the 20% going rate salary discount for shortage occupations and replaced the Shortage Occupation List with a new Immigration Salary Discount List.
- Ensured people only sponsor family members they can support financially. The Government is raising the minimum income for family visas to £38,700 by early 2025.
- Increased migrant health fees to pay for the NHS, by increasing the Immigration Health Surcharge from £634 to £1,100 in October 2023.
But what about Labour?
- Labour would let 250,000 more people come to the UK every year, showing they have no plan to get immigration under control. Labour would scrap the Rwanda Scheme and relax immigration controls which would mean 250,000 more people coming to the UK every year under a Labour government (The Daily Express, 25 February 2024, link).
- Keir Starmer believes all immigration controls are racist despite immigration being the third most important issue facing the country. When a lawyer Starmer claimed there was a ‘racist undercurrent’ which ‘permeates all immigration law’. YouGov has reported Immigration and Asylum to be one of the most important issues facing the country for almost two years (Socialist Lawyer, Immigration Law and Practice, 1988, archived; YouGov, 1 January 2024, link).
