Conservatives’ plan to slash migration

Today (Tuesday 25^th June) the Conservatives are setting out their plan to cut both illegal and legal immigration.  

Under the Conservatives, if you come to this country illegally, you will not be able to stay. The clear plan to stop illegal migration includes: 

• Running a regular rhythm of flights to Rwanda to provide an effective deterrent, starting in July, until the boats are stopped
• Bringing our Illegal Migration Act into force and stopping illegal migrants from bringing spurious claims to stop their removal
• Returning more people with no right to be here to their own country

Only the Conservatives have the determination and the plan to stop the boats. All other parties would remove the central pillar of this system – the Rwanda plan. 

Legal migration must also come down. The steps we've already taken would have cut the number of people eligible to come to the UK by 300,000 last year.  But we are determined to go even further. That is why the Conservatives' clear plan to cut legal migration includes: 

• Introducing an annual legal cap on the number of visas that are granted to those coming to the UK to work or join their family.  And giving Parliament a vote on the annual cap – so voters have confidence that immigration numbers will be controlled 
• Commissioning the independent expert Migration Advisory Committee to recommend the annual level to government, taking into account both the costs and benefits of migration
• Raising the Skilled Worker threshold and Family income requirement with inflation automatically to make sure they don't undercut UK workers

The Labour Party have no plan, other than to oppose these measures. Under them, legal migration would go up by hundreds of thousands. 

In their manifesto, the Labour Party commits to reopening Brexit and pursuing a ‘deeper' relationship, which Michel Barnier has made it clear yesterday (Monday) that the EU will not accept without a return to free movement of EU citizen into the UK.  Keir Starmer has also said he wants to negotiate a deal with the EU on illegal migration that would see the UK accepting hundreds of thousands more illegal migrants from the continent – the precise opposition of Labour's publicly stated aim. 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, said:  

“Migration is too high and the Conservatives have a clear plan to get it down. Labour would rip up our plan on day one by scrapping the Rwanda scheme, despite countries across Europe looking to it themselves to deal with their own migration pressures. 

“Labour's only alternative is an illegal migration amnesty and sweetheart deal with the EU that would see Britain taking even more illegal migrants from the continent – the opposite of what Britain needs. 

“So that's the clear choice at this election – the Conservatives who have shown they will take the bold action necessary to break the model of the smuggling gangs and stop the boats, and Labour who would make us the soft-touch illegal migration capital of the world and take us back to square one.” 

Home Secretary James Cleverly said: 

“The Labour Party have got a complete vacuum where their policies should be. Their big idea is for a border command that already exists. Because they would scrap Rwanda, they would have to have a blanket amnesty for migrants already here and on top of that, they want to do a deal with the EU that would see us take even more illegal migrants. 

“We know they want to re-enter the EU's sphere of influence – and the EU has made it clear free movement is the price to pay for that.  

“Labour is not being honest with the British people - they would send immigration soaring. Only Conservatives have a plan to stop the boats and bring legal migration levels down. 

ENDS 

For further information, please contact the Press Office on 020 7984 8121 or email us at press@conservatives.com.  

Notes to Editors 

The Conservatives are sticking to a clear plan to stop the boats: 

• Forging a treaty with Rwanda and introducing landmark legislation to make clear Rwanda is safe, enabling us to send illegal migrants to Rwanda. We upgraded our agreement to a treaty, addressing the Supreme Court's concerns, and affirming Rwanda's safety via emergency legislation, ensuring illegal migrants will be relocated to Rwanda (Home Office, News story, 6 December 2023, link). 
• Stopping the boats by sending flights to Rwanda. We will remove illegal migrants to Rwanda, with flights starting in July and continuing throughout the summer and beyond until the boats are stopped (Conservative Party,Conservative Party Manifesto 2024, 11 June 2024, link).
• Changing the law so that if people come here illegally they will not be able to claim asylum in the UK, discouraging illegal migration. For the first time, our Illegal Migration Act blocks asylum based on the mode of entry, meaning the 90 per cent of arrivals who claimed asylum in 2022 would have their claim heard in Rwanda or another safe third country (Home Office, New Story, 7 March 2023, link.)
• Removing more people with no right to be here. We will sign further returns deal like the one we have signed with Albania, which has reduced Albanian small boat arrivals by 90%. 
• Working with other countries to reform asylum treaties. We will hold an international summit and work with other countries to reform international laws to make them fit for an age of mass migration. If we are forced to choose between our security and the jurisdiction of a foreign court, including the ECHR, we will always choose our security (Conservative Party, Conservative Party Manifesto 2024, 11 June 2024, link). 

The Conservatives are sticking to the plan to reduce net migration by:   

o        Setting a legal cap on migration. We will introduce a legal cap on those coming to the UK on work and family routes to guarantee that numbers will fall every year, so public services are protected while bringing in the skills our businesses and NHS needs (The Daily Telegraph, 3 June 2024, link). 

• Commissioning the Migration Advisory Committee to make an annual recommendation to government based on the costs and benefits of migration. We will commission the Committee to make an annual recommendation on the level of the immigration cap, with an explicit remit to take into account the costs and benefits of migration, whilst ensuring our NHS and housing is not overwhelmed. Government will then consider the Committee's recommendation before making a final proposal (The Daily Telegraph, 3 June 2024, link). 

• Bringing an annual vote to Parliament to set the immigration cap, giving Parliament a direct role in setting immigration levels for the first time. The government will put its proposed level, informed by the MAC, to a vote in Parliament annually so MPs can vote on the annual level, giving Parliament a direct role in setting the level of immigration for the first time (The Daily Telegraph, 3 June 2024, link). 

o        Raising visa fees by 25 per cent, ensuing people who come to the UK  contribute to fund public services. We will raise visa fees by 25 per which will mean, for example Visit Visas will increase from £115 to £144 (Conservative Party, Conservative Party Manifesto 2024, 11 June 2024, link). 

o        Removing the discount for overseas students paying the Immigration Health Surcharge. Those coming to the UK for more than 6 months must pay the annual Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) to fund the costs of their healthcare to the NHS. Students and their dependents currently pay a discounted IHS of £776. We will scrap the discount, asking students to pay the standard IHS of £1,035(Conservative Party, Conservative Party Manifesto 2024, 11 June 2024, link). 

The Conservatives' Plan to reduce net migration is already working:  

• Continuing to cut the number of visa applications across skilled worker, health and care and sponsored study by 30 per cent.Thanks to our changes to visa rules, visa applications across skilled worker, health and care and sponsored study were down by 30 per cent in January to May 2024 compared to last year. This is a further fall in in visa applications which fell by 25 per cent in the previous data release. (Home Office, Official Statistics, 13 June 2024, link).

• The latest migration statistics show a 10 per cent fall in net migration last year. Long-term net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) was 10 per cent lower in the year ending December 2023, compared with updated estimates for the year ending December 2022 (ONS, Long-term international migration, provisional: year ending December 2023, 23 May 2024, link). 

• Bringing down the number of student dependents applying for visas by almost 80 per cent, ensuring net migration comes down to sustainable levels. The latest data shows just 79 perc cent fewer student dependents applied for visas in January to May 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 (Home Office, Official Statistics, 13 June 2024, link).

• Driving down the number of health and care visa applications by 77 per cent this year, as we stick to our plan to deliver sustainable staffing levels in our NHS without relying on foreign workers. In January to May 2024, 77 per cent fewer people applied to for health and care visas compared to the same period last year (Home Office, Official Statistics, 13 June 2024, link).  

Labour do not believe in controls on immigration:  

• 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). 

• Keir Starmer promised to bring back freedom of movement if he ever became Prime Minister but has now flip-flopped, showing he will say anything to get elected. STUDIO: ‘If you become Labour Prime Minister, will you bring back freedom of movement of EU citizens to the UK?' STARMER: ‘Yes of course – bring back, argue for, challenge' (Keir Starmer, Speech Q&A, 31 January 2020, archived). 

• Labour's refusal to bring down migration levels would see unlimited and uncontrolled immigration. Labour believe net migration targets are the ‘wrong approach' and refuse to say whether a future Labour government would bring net migration down (Times Radio, 15 June 2022, archived; Laura Kuenssberg, 30 October 2022, archived).