6 hours ago11:51 Katie Harris

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Keir Starmer has no credibility on this issue. This is the man who once described immigration laws as racist and wrote letters protesting at the deportation of foreign criminals.

“Starmer has tried to claim credit for the reduction in legal immigration since the election – which resulted from Conservative policies.

“Meanwhile, because Keir Starmer cancelled the Rwanda deterrent last July before it even started, this year so far has been the worst in history for illegal immigrants crossing the channel.

“Yvette Cooper admitted yesterday that their new policies would only reduce immigration by 50,000. That is not enough. The public rightly want the days of mass immigration to end. That’s why later today we will force a vote on creating a binding annual cap on immigration to be set by Parliament. If Labour were actually serious about slashing migration, they will support the immigration cap at this evening’s vote.”

6 hours ago11:32 Katie Harris

Sir Keir Starmer’s immigration reforms are a “panicked and misguided” attempt to win back Reform UK voters, the Green Party has said.

Co-leader and MP for Bristol Central Carla Denyer said: “These ill-thought-through reforms are the triumph of a panicked and misguided rush to create headlines and try to win back Reform voters.

“From closed down youth centres to shuttered pubs, people in all parts of the UK are feeling the bonds that hold their communities together dissolving.

“And whether it’s rebuilding intergenerational relationships, or helping those who come here from abroad to integrate, strengthening those bonds requires support and crucially funding from central government.

“But far from rebuilding our communities, this Government’s reforms are going to make things worse.

“In particular, at a time when the care sector is already stretched to breaking point, and public support for people coming from overseas to work in our care sector is consistently strong, it’s wild that this Government is ignoring public opinion and making it even harder to recruit badly-needed care staff.”

7 hours ago10:45 Katie Harris

Here are some of the key proposals in the immigration White Paper:

• The new system will end automatic settlement and citizenship for anyone living here for five years, with migrants instead required to spend a decade in the UK before applying to stay – although workers who significantly contribute to society such as nurses, doctors and engineers could be fast-tracked.
• Migrants will be required to display a higher standard of English across all immigration routes including, for the first time, their adult dependents.
• An end to the international recruitment of care workers, with the Home Office arguing there are 40,000 potential members of staff who were originally brought over by “rogue” providers and are now able to take up jobs in the sector while homegrown workers are trained up.
• The Home Office will be notified of all offences committed by foreign criminals, rather than just those which result in prison terms, with wider powers to deport offenders and cancel visas.
• Changes to the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights in an attempt to reduce the number of people claiming “exceptional circumstances” over the right to family life in order to remain in the UK.
• The immigration skills charge, paid by firms sponsoring a migrant worker, will be hiked by 32%.
• Skills thresholds for work visas will be returned to degree level – reversing a system that saw the proportion of lower-skilled visas issued increase between 2021 and 2024.
• For occupations below this level, access to the immigration system will be strictly time-limited and based on evidence of shortages in the supply of labour.
• A “limited pool” of refugees and displaced people recognised by the United Nations’ agency responsible will be eligible to apply for jobs through existing skilled-worker routes.
• The tests for colleges and universities offering places to foreign students will be made stricter.
• The ability for graduates to remain in the UK after their studies will be cut from two years to 18 months.

8 hours ago10:25 Katie Harris

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch wrote on X: “Keir Starmer once called all immigration laws racist.

“So why would anyone believe he actually wants to bring immigration down?

“When I proposed ending the automatic route to British citizenship and introducing a legally binding cap, the government laughed it off.

“Now – nine months into office and after voting against every serious attempt we’ve put forward to cut numbers – Starmer suddenly wants you to think he cares.

“Labour doesn’t believe in secure borders. You can’t trust them to protect ours.”

Keir Starmer once called all immigration laws racist.So why would anyone believe he actually wants to bring immigration down?When I proposed ending the automatic route to British citizenship and introducing a legally binding cap, the government laughed it off.

Now\u2014nine\u2026

\u2014 Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) May 12, 2025
9 hours ago09:16 Ciaran McGrath

Reacting to the Prime Minister’s announcemnt, Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice told BBC Radio 4’s Today Sir Keir was “listening and learning” from his party.

Nevertheless he added: “We have to have the courage to say we cannot keep importing unlimited quantities of people from overseas.

“We have to motivate and train up our own people back into work using the combination of wages and tax incentives and skills.

“That is the reality, because otherwise we will never get off this treadmill, and we have to face into this.

“We need a target of immigration, and if you have net zero immigration, you can identify particular skills shortages, the care sector may be possibly the most deserving.

“But we have to have a clear eyed focus on paying our own people better wages. That’s why our economic policy is driven around lifting the starting point for income tax to £20,000 pounds from £12,500.”

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice (Image: Getty)
9 hours ago09:12 Katie Harris

Asked by the Daily Express if going further on immigration would require “disentangling ourselves” with the ECHR, Sir Keir Starmer said: “No, I don’t think that that is necessary.

“I also remind myself that the international agreements we’ve signed have given us the basis for the deals that we’ve struck on illegal migration.

“So the Home Secretary has moved fast, working with other countries to put in place materially improved deals with other countries in relation to migration that would not have been possible if we had been saying at the same time we’re about to withdraw from our international obligations.

“You can’t strike those deals with other countries to work more closely together on law enforcement, to smash the gangs and to work on returns agreements – which is what we want to do – if in the next breath, you’ll say you don’t believe in international law.”

9 hours ago08:58 Katie Harris

The Prime Minister did not answer a question on whether net migration would fall every year between now and the next election but said he wants to “get it down by the end of this Parliament”.

Asked if net migration would fall every year, Sir Keir Starmer said: “I’m promising it will fall significantly, and I do want to get it down by the end of this Parliament, significantly.

“That is what this plan is intended to achieve.

“This White Paper, these plans bring it back into control, make sure it’s controlled, that it’s selective, that we decide who comes to this country, and that it is fair, and that’s what we will do.

“Significant reduction in immigration and, as I’ve indicated, if it becomes necessary to take further measures, then that’s what we will do.”

The Prime Minister avoided committing to net migration falling every year between now and 2029 (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
9 hours ago08:54 Katie Harris

Sir Keir Starmer said: “Migration is part of Britain’s national story.

“We talked last week about the great rebuilding of this country after the war.

“Migrants were part of that, and they make a massive contribution today, and you will never hear me denigrate that.

“But when people come to our country, they should also commit to integration, to learning our language, and our system should actively distinguish between those that do and those that don’t. I think that’s fair.”

He added: “Now, make no mistake, this plan means migration will fall. That’s a promise.”

9 hours ago08:53 Katie Harris

The Prime Minister told the press conference: “Let me put it this way, nations depend on rules, fair rules.

“Sometimes they’re written down, often they’re not, but either way, they give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other.

“Now in a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more important.

“Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.”

9 hours ago08:45 Katie Harris

On the rise in immigration under the Conservative government, Sir Keir Starmer said: “It was a choice, a choice made even as they told you, told the country, they were doing the opposite.

“A One Nation experiment in open borders conducted on a country that voted for control.

“Well, no more. Today, this Labour Government is shutting down the lab. The experiment is over.”

The Prime Minister speaks from 9 Downing Street (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
9 hours ago08:38 Katie Harris

Sir Keir Starmer said Labpur’s immigration plan “will finally take back control of our borders and close the book on a squalid chapter for our politics, our economy and our country”.

He added: “‘Take back control.’ Everyone knows that slogan, and everyone knows what it meant on immigration, or at least that’s what people thought.

“Because what followed from the previous government, starting with the people who used that slogan, was the complete opposite.

“Between 2019 and 2023, even as they were going round our country, telling people with a straight face that they would get immigration down, net migration quadrupled, until in 2023 it reached nearly one million.

“That’s about the population of Birmingham, our second largest city. That’s not control. It’s chaos.”

9 hours ago08:32 Katie Harris

The Prime Minister has started his speech from Downing Street.

9 hours ago08:27 Katie Harris

Writing on X, Reform leader Nigel Farage said: “On the day of Keir Starmer’s big fightback against Reform UK, 250 young men are already crossing the Channel by 8am.

“How many are Iranian terrorists?”

BREAKING NEWS

On the day of Keir Starmer\u2019s big fightback against Reform UK, 250 young men are already crossing the Channel by 8am.

How many are Iranian terrorists?

\u2014 Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) May 12, 2025
10 hours ago08:13 Katie Harris

In a post on X, Sir Keir Starmer said: “The Tories ran an immigration system that relied on cheap foreign labour instead of investing in British workers.

“That betrayal ends now. Watch my announcement live from 8:30am as I set out how Labour is delivering on our manifesto promise.”

The Tories ran an immigration system that relied on cheap foreign labour instead of investing in British workers.That betrayal ends now.

Watch my announcement live from 8:30am as I set out how Labour is delivering on our manifesto promise.

\u2014 Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 12, 2025
10 hours ago07:54 Katie Harris

The Labour Government has “stolen one or two ideas” on immigration from the Tories, Chris Philp said.

The shadow home secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “They have certainly stolen one or two ideas, but that’s good – politics is about getting things done, and I’m pleased when our ideas get implemented.

“But taken as a whole, I don’t think from what I’ve seen so far, Keir Starmer’s announcements will go far enough because we have the view that immigration – legal migration – has been far too high in recent years.”

He said the number of overseas workers on low wages in the social care sector had run into the “hundreds of thousands” which, it was put to him, had happened under the previous Tory government.

Mr Philp insisted that “late in the time of the last government some quite significant changes were made that are in the process of bringing the numbers down.”

He said the Conservatives would cap the number of family visas with an annual limit and that social care firms “should not be allowed” to import large numbers of overseas workers on low wages.

10 hours ago07:30 Katie Harris

The Government will not be putting a target figure on net migration numbers despite the crackdown.

Speaking yesterday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News that doing so left previous governments with “broken promises”.

“We’re not going to take that really failed approach, because I think what we need to do is rebuild credibility and trust in the whole system,” she added.

11 hours ago07:13 Katie Harris

Sir Keir Starmer will vow that “every area” of the immigration system will be “tightened up” as he unveils a raft of new reforms.

The Prime Minister is expected to say: “Every area of the immigration system, including work, family and study, will be tightened up so we have more control.

“Enforcement will be tougher than ever and migration numbers will fall.”

As part of the measures, migrants will be told they need to spend a decade in the UK before they can apply for citizenship and English language requirements will be increased for all routes into the UK.

Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, while there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.

11 hours ago07:05 Katie Harris

Sir Keir Starmer is set to outline plans for an immigration crackdown in a press conference this morning.

The Prime Minister will deliver the speech from Downing Street at 8.30am.

It comes as the Government is set to publish its Immigration White Paper today.