British PM Keir Starmer gets tough after 'shock' of soaring migration figures

London: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday pledged to get tough on immigration as official statistics revealed higher than previously reported net migration figures, which had failed to record 166,000 people for the previous year.

In a scathing attack on the previous Conservative Party government, Starmer told reporters during a news conference at 10 Downing Street that the Tories were “running an open borders experiment” and left the Labour government with an “incredible legacy failure” of record numbers of immigration.

It came after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released its latest migration data to reveal that it had revised its net migration data for the year to June 2023 upwards, from the previous estimate of 740,000 to 906,000.

While net migration to the UK fell by 20 per cent to 728,000 following that period in the year to June 2024, the “shock” of the previous year was dubbed a “different order of failure” by the Tory regime in charge at the time.

"Time and again the Conservative Party promised they would get the numbers down. Time and again they failed,” said Starmer.

“A failure on this scale isn’t just bad luck, it isn’t a global trend or taking your eye off the ball. No, this is a different order of failure. This happened by design, not accident,” he said.

“I want to see immigration come down significantly and I said that before the election, I said that during the election, I’ll say it again here today. So that means bearing down on the influences that have driven it up this high,” he added.

While he refused to set an “arbitrary cap” on numbers, Starmer pointed to a series of measures that will crack down on "rogue employers" and also restrict visas that reflect an “over-reliance on the easy answer of recruiting from abroad”.

The ONS figures reveal that Indians continue to dominate the tally of migrants from outside the European Union (EU) in both the student and work visa categories.

“Indian was the most common nationality for non-EU+ immigration for both work-related (116,000) and study-related (127,000) reasons in YE (year ending) June 2024,” the ONS states.

More international students tending to remain in the UK than in previous years, driven partly by the post-study Graduate Route visa introduced in 2021, is among the factors behind the upward revision of migration figures.

The ONS notes: “India, Nigeria and Zimbabwe all show very low proportions of early leavers on work visas.

“India and Nigeria show similarly low proportions of early leavers on study visas, while China’s proportion is much higher.” An "early leaver" is defined as an individual who arrives on a long-term visa but does not stay for at least 12 months and therefore does not become a long-term migrant.

"We committed in our manifesto to do everything in our power to ensure those who abuse our immigration system face the strongest possible consequences. No longer will employers be able to flout the rules with little consequence or exploit international workers for costs they were always supposed to pay if they choose not to recruit domestically,” said UK Minister for Migration and Citizenship Seema Malhotra, with reference to crackdowns announced by the Home Office this week.

It involves employers who flout work visa rules to be sanctioned for at least two years, double the current length, limiting their ability to sponsor foreign workers. The new powers will ensure employers who recruit internationally will be required to pay associated costs themselves, the Home Office said.

Meanwhile, former Tory ministers took to social media to hit back, choosing to focus on the more recent fall in numbers for the year ending June 2024.

“A 20 per cent drop in immigration since June 2023 is a result of the changes I fought for and introduced in May 2023 as Home Secretary. That’s when we started to turn the tide,” said former home secretary Suella Braverman.

On Wednesday, in anticipation of the latest ONS data, Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch admitted that the Tories must accept that it made mistakes by allowing migration to hit record levels when it was in office.

“On behalf of the Conservative Party, it is right that I, as the new leader, accept responsibility and say truthfully we got it wrong,” she said, adding that under her leadership the party would advocate for tightening access to British passports and have "zero tolerance" towards foreign criminals staying in the UK.