Starmer pledges to reduce immigration with new reform

LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed on Thursday to reduce the number of migrants coming to Britain, saying he would produce a plan for reform of the points-based immigration system that would put the onus on businesses to train British workers.

Hours after official data showed net migration had reached a record of more than 900,000 in the year to June 2023, much higher than original estimates, Starmer called a news conference to spell out his determination to reduce the numbers, which he blamed on the policies of the former Conservative government.

High levels of immigration have become a hot-button issue in Britain. Voters worry that strained public services cannot cope with such large influxes of people, while sectors such as healthcare say they cannot function without foreign workers.

“A failure on this scale isn’t just bad luck... No, this is a different order of failure... Brexit was used for that purpose to turn Britain into a ‘one nation experiment’ in open borders,” Starmer told the press conference, referring to Britain’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union.

“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.”

If businesses do not “play ball”, he said, they will be banned from hiring overseas workers.

Introduced in 2021 by the Conservatives following Brexit, the points-based immigration system assigns points for specific skills and qualifications and only grant visas to those who have enough points.