Starmer has no intention of controlling our borders
JOE BARON
There was a lot to like in Sir Keir’s speech on immigration last week. He vowed to ‘take back control’ and end the ‘one nation experiment in open borders’. Even his signature delivery – redolent of an AI-generated hologram with a nasty cold – couldn’t detract from the rare veracity of his message. Forces are pulling our country apart, he said, and we ‘need to reduce immigration, significantly’, or ‘risk becoming an island of strangers’. These are self-evident truths, as was his demand that immigrants integrate and learn English.
But his proposals failed to match the ambition of his rhetoric. Indeed, when one considers the detail of the white paper he unveiled, one inevitably concludes that the forces pulling our country apart, making us into ‘an island of strangers’, will continue largely unabated. Okay, there were some welcome measures – stricter English language requirements, extending the time it takes for migrants to acquire settled status from 5 years to 10, linking visa access to investment in homegrown skills, and ending the recruitment of care workers from abroad – but these amount to small beer compared to the gargantuan scale of the problem.
Net migration into the UK was over 900,000 in 2023 and 700,000 in 2024 (the highest numbers on record), but by her own admission, when interviewed by Laura Kuennsberg, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, conceded that, after implementation – which won’t happen for at least 18 months -, the measures will only reduce net migration by a piffling 50,000 people. Fifty thousand! After all that lofty jawing?! And right on cue, as if to underline the emptiness of Sir Kier’s bombast, we discovered that another 600 illegal migrants landed in Dover during his speech, taking the number to 12,000 since January, a 40 per cent increase on the same period last year.
The inadequacy of these proposals should come as no surprise. Bloviating speeches can only do so much to pull the wool over the eyes of a sceptical ‘once-bitten-twice-shy’ public that, according to recent polls, views immigration as an even more important issue than the cost-of-living crisis – that’s why so many voted for Reform in the local elections. 85 per cent of Brits want to see net migration slashed to below 100,000 a year. They won’t be fooled by the insincere utterings of an insincere fraud like Sir Keir Starmer.
This is a man who has voted against every immigration reform bill since 2015. He’s never come across a foreign criminal he hasn’t wanted to rescue from deportation. Once more, during his party’s leadership election campaign, he pledged to make the case for freedom of movement, despite the fact that it’s opposed by the vast majority of Brits. The man’s an incorrigible open-borders fanatic, always has been. He once argued that all border controls are racist. But he now wants us to believe he’s changed his mind. Actually, more to the point, he wants us to buy the myth that he’s always advocated strong borders. It’s a Labour value, apparently – or is that laughably? Pull the other one, Sir Keir. You’re an irredeemable globalist and your words ring hollow, as proved by your actions, both past and present.
Just take this week’s reset deal with the European Union. It includes the so-called Youth Experience Scheme – a euphemism for a measure that will allow, once finalised, young Europeans from across the continent to live and work in the UK, along with, if the EU gets its way…again, their dependents. It’s incredible. Sir Keir intends to reduce immigration by inviting an as yet unspecified number of European immigrants into the UK, via a scheme with a name designed to conceal its true nature.
Let’s be honest, any prime minister even remotely serious about controlling Britain’s borders would have made the success of negotiations dependent upon France taking back the illegal migrants that leave their shores for Blighty on an almost daily basis.
And what about the Indian trade agreement? This will encourage companies in the UK to hire Indian workers at the expense of their British competitors. That’s right, workers from a country with the largest population on the planet will be exempted from NICs, along with their employers, for up to three years, incentivising companies to hire them. The result? An increase in immigration from India.
These aren’t the actions of a prime minister committed to reducing immigration; they are the actions of a prime minister who, at the very least, intends to maintain its current levels. And his speech? That was the speech of a liar desperate to conceal his true intentions.
This article (Starmer has no intention of controlling our borders) was created and published by Joe Baron and is republished here under “Fair Use”
See Related Article Below
Akhila Jayaram: Any EU Youth Mobility Scheme must be capped, otherwise it will become an immigration backdoor
AKHILA JAYARAM
This article (Akhila Jayaram: Any EU Youth Mobility Scheme must be capped, otherwise it will become an immigration backdoor) was created and published by Conservative Home and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author Akhila K Jayaram
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Net migration is at an all-time high at 728,000 in the year ending June 2024. Although Labour recently released their Immigration White Paper which promises to bring down net migration, they seem to be negotiating a EU youth mobility scheme which could see potentially hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, eligible to enter the UK.
What’s more concerning is the lack of detail around what Labour is willing to concede to the EU on this scheme.
In an interview with Sky News, Nick Thomas-Symonds (lead negotiator with the EU), repeatedly refused to agree to a cap on the scheme.
He said that the scheme was going to be ‘smart and controlled’, but the lack of specific numbers creates a sense of alarm. With 142 million under-30s in the EU, a 10 per cent uptake of an uncapped scheme could mean over a million young people eligible to enter the UK. Recent reports say that Labour is considering a 100,000 visa cap, but Brussels is pushing for a higher limit.
Given how Starmer has conceded on other matters such as fishing rights, what is to say that he won’t toe the line on this?
That’s not to say that there should be no youth mobility scheme with the EU.
The UK has a long history of such reciprocal schemes with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India and even Uruguay. These schemes, which allow young people an opportunity to live and work in other countries with minimal restrictions, can improve education and career prospects for participants. At the same time, there is also an element of cultural exchange which can advance Britain’s soft power beyond its borders.
However, the EU is demanding special concessions, like longer stays up to 4 years and home tuition fees for EU nationals. These concessions would clearly not be in the national interest.
I propose a strict annual cap on youth mobility visas, similar to that which is allocated to Australia, the largest user of the UK’s youth mobility scheme. Even though 45,000 visas were allocated to Australia in 2024, only 21.6 per cent were used. The cap should be set in the tens of thousands during negotiations, with any upward revisions debated and voted in Parliament. This would provide further certainty to voters that we have control over who is entering the country.
Additionally, the UK should not concede to the EU’s demand for longer stays.
The current youth mobility visas are limited to two years and give participants ample opportunity to experience life in a new country. Any longer would likely lead them to form ties, and eventually lead to permanent settlement. While the UK should continue to welcome the best and brightest from around the world, the youth mobility scheme should not be used as a backdoor to permanently settle in the UK.
Data from the Migration Observatory suggested that among those entering on this visa in 2019, 15 per cent had moved to long-term work visas with a view to permanently settle by 2023, while another six per cent had transitioned to family visas. However, these numbers are reflective of the situation when a total of just over 80,000 youth mobility visas were issued. If the number of eligible applicants increased in the first place, this could have knock-on effects on participants transitioning to long-term visas, and thereby driving up net migration.
Finally, the government should use existing policy levers to treat applicants of the EU Youth Mobility scheme on par with applicants from other countries.
The NHS surcharge should remain in place, as it’s only fair that those from outside the UK contribute to the NHS. There should also be no reduction in tuition fees for those studying under the scheme. With universities reeling under pressure and needing around £12,500 per student to break even, reducing fees just to secure a deal with the EU is unjustified.
Additionally, Labour should consider a one-year cooling-off period which prevents participants from switching to other visa categories if they come to the UK under this scheme. This would ensure this visa route is used for work or educational experience, not as a pathway to permanent settlement.
In his rush to cozy up to Brussels, Starmer must not ignore the concerns of voters at home. It is utterly incongruous to endorse high levels of immigration through the EU Youth Mobility scheme while his government has just pledged to reduce net migration.