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Migration LIVE: Keir Starmer faces fury from all sides - including his own MPs - over plan

2025-05-13 00:00:00.0 每日快报-政治原网页

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The migrant crisis in the Channel is intensifying (Image: PA)

Keir Starmer's immigration plans are coming under fire from political rivals, his own MPs, businesses and industry leaders this morning.

The Prime Minister warned the UK is at risk of becoming an “island of strangers” because integration has failed as he vowed to "significantly" reduce net migration.

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Sir Keir unveiled proposals to ramp up deportations by increasing the number of offenders eligible for removals, overhaul how Article 8 of the ECHR is used in immigration cases, scrap the social care visa route, require foreign workers to take graduate level jobs and boost English language skills.

The Prime Minister's flagship proposals are expected to reduce the number of people coming to the UK by 100,000 per year.

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But Labour backbenchers were among those who attacked Sir Keir for the language he used to announce the plans on Monday, including his claim the UK risks becoming an "island of strangers" if ministers do not act on migration.

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Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake suggested the phrase could "risk legitimising the same far-right violence we saw in last year's summer riots".

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who lost the Labour whip last year, accused Sir Keir of "reflecting the language" of Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech in the 1960s.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper defended the Prime Minister's language and disagreed with his critics: "I think part of the point that he (Sir Keir) is making is that we have to recognise people have come to the UK through generations to do really important jobs in our NHS, founding our biggest businesses, doing some of the most difficult jobs, but it's because that's important, the system has to be controlled and managed, and it just hasn't been."

6 days ago14:13 Michael Knowles

Foreign nurses are planning to leave the UK

Thousands of migrant nursing staff are ready to leave the UK, with new Government measures aimed at curbing immigration set to accelerate the "exodus", a union boss has warned.

The Royal College of Nursing said claimed forcing migrants to wait longer to gain indefinite leave to remain is “the hostile environment on steroids”.

The report also found that of the nurses planning to leave, two thirds intend to move to a place that is not their home country.

RCN general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger warned that thousands of nursing staff are readying to leave the UK.

"This situation is bad enough, but now the Government's cruel measures could accelerate this exodus, doing great damage to key services," she said.

"Closing the care worker visa route and making migrant nursing staff wait longer to access vital benefits is the hostile environment on steroids.

"They pay tax and work in our vital services, they deserve the same rights.

"Sadly, this Government is intent on pushing people into poverty, away from the country, and with no credible plan to grow the domestic workforce in sight.

"Government must do all it can to get the next generation into nursing.

"Rather than pandering and scapegoating, ministers should focus on what patients and vulnerable people need - safely staffed services. Without the measures we're calling for, our amazing colleagues from overseas will continue to leave."

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6 days ago12:46 Michael Knowles

Downing Street breaks silence on 'island of strangers' comment

Downing Street has rejected that Keir Starmer’s “island of strangers” immigration remarks echoed those of Enoch Powell.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Sir Keir stands by the words and he “totally rejects the comparison”.

“Britain is a tolerant country and always will be but immigration must be controlled.”

6 days ago12:08 Christian Calgie

Immigration concerns highest in 9 years

Brits are more concerned about immigration than at any time since the aftermath of the Brexit referendum.

YouGov's opinion tracker has found that immigration is now once again voters' most pressing priority, overtaking the economy for the first time in months.

50% now say immigration is the top issue, up 2 points since May, while concerns about the economy have dropped 3 points to 49%.

The 50% figure is the highest that concern about immigration has ranked since 2016.

50% of Britons say that immigration is one of the top issues facing the country, the highest level since June 2016

Immigration: 50% (+2 from 3-5 May)

Economy: 49% (-3)

Health: 36% (=)

Crime: 22% (=)

Defence: 21% (+1)

Housing: 18% (-2)

Environment: 17% (+2)

Welfare: 14% (+1)

Tax:\u2026 pic.twitter.com/O2ClK2JFjg

\u2014 YouGov (@YouGov) May 13, 2025

6 days ago11:51 Michael Knowles

Sadiq Khan refuses to support Keir Starmer's language

Sir Sadiq Khan said he would not have used the phrase "island of strangers", but declined to criticise the Prime Minister's announcement on immigration.

Speaking to LBC, the Mayor of London said: "The sort of language I use is different to the language used by others. That's not the sort of words I would use."

He added that he thought Sir Keir Starmer was referring to "promises made by Brexiteers" and recent high levels of migration, and not "that contribution we make to this multicultural capital city and country."

Asked how he felt when he heard the Prime Minister's language, he said: "I read the White Paper and I understand the context of the White Paper, and those aren't words that I would use."

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6 days ago11:11 Michael Knowles

Immigration can't always be the answer to staff shortages

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has warned employers can't "continually" use the immigration system to plug gaps in their workforces.

Asked why British workers would want to take a role in adult social care, Ms Cooper said: "Well, I don't think that we can just continually return to immigration as being the answer to every part of the labour market where there are problems, instead of actually dealing with those problems.

"Some of the problems in the care sector, we know, is about the shift patterns.

"It's about the way in which workers are treated in some sections of the care sector, there's others where people are treated really well and employees are really looked after.

"But we know there are some that just aren't. It’s really important that they follow the fair pay agreement, and we've raised standards here in the UK, rather than continually turning to migration as the answer, rather than tackling those core problems."

6 days ago10:37 Jonathan Walker

This is Labour's 'lowest point' says ex-Scottish leader

Kezia Dugdale, former Scottish Labour leader, has told Times Radio that the government's new immigration policy puts it at the "lowest point" of its tenure and makes her "wholly depressed and angry".

Asked if she was comfortable with Keir Starmer's warning about the UK becoming an 'island of strangers', she said: "Absolutely categorically not. I am wholly depressed this morning and pretty angry as well and I think this might be for me the lowest point in Labour's tenure in government today."

She told Times Radio: "I much preferred Keir Starmer of 2020 who was pro-immigration and said that a Labour government on his watch would always make the positive case for it. We're miles and miles from that now."

6 days ago10:14 Michael Knowles

Yvette Coopers: Care home bosses have enough workers to choose from

Care home bosses already have enough workers to choose from in the UK, Yvette Cooper has suggested.

The Home Secretary said some 40,000 people moved to the UK, using a social care visa, for a job that didn't exist.

Care home bosses have warned of an intense staffing crisis, following Keir Starmer's decision to close the visa route to foreign nationals.

Ms Cooper told LBC this morning: "Well, part of the issues in the care sector is also about pay and conditions.

"It's why we need a fair pay agreement in social care, and also to recognise that what happened when we had this really big increase in social care recruitment from overseas, because that visa has only been in place for just a few years, but a huge increase in overseas recruitment, and what it led to was also very substantial exploitation.

"Proper checks weren't done, and when they finally were, around nearly 40,000 care workers who'd come to the UK found that actually the jobs didn't really exist.

"We're saying that care employers should be recruiting from those care workers who have been displaced and from people who are here on other visas and from UK residents paid for as part of the fair pay agreement."

Secretary of State for the Home Department Yvette Cooper (left) arrives in Downing Street, London, f (Image: PA)

6 days ago10:04 Michael Knowles

Yvette Cooper: We hope French will start intercepting boats in the 'next few months'

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper admitted the UK hopes France will start intercepting boats in the Channel "over the next few months".

Home Office sources had privately been hoping Paris would begin operations to block boats in the water at the end of this month.

But the Home Secretary told LBC: "We hope that the work that the French are doing means that they will start taking action within French waters over the next few months.

"I think that is hugely important.

"We're obviously pressing them to do that as swiftly as possible.

"And then the counter terrorism powers will come in later this year.

"At each stage, we are increasing the enforcement, the work with other countries, the work with Europol, on those gang networks, because they do spread right across Europe as well."

6 days ago09:58 Michael Knowles

French not stopping migrants in the water is a 'serious problem', Yvette Cooper says

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has admitted the French refusing to intercept migrant dinghies in the water is a "serious problem".

Ms Cooper said Paris has agreed to conduct operations in shallow waters.

She said: "We now have the French operations along the coast and along the shoreline.

"But what we're seeing now from the criminal gangs is the boats launch further upstream, people get onto them in the water.

"Once everybody is in the water, the French authorities do not intervene.

"That is a serious problem. Soon as it's in the water, their rules meant they weren't taking action. That's a serious problem.

"So the UK governments have been asking France to change their position for very many years, and they have now finally agreed to do so as a result of the work we've been doing with them.

"That is important, but it's not enforced yet. So don't get me wrong, this continues to be a really deep-rooted problem, because those criminal gangs have had six years to take very deep roots.

"But we need that French action in the waters, not just on the coast, and we also need the broader counter terrorism powers that we're bringing in."

6 days ago09:53 Michael Knowles

Yvette Cooper: We're not an 'island of strangers'

Asked if she thought the UK is an island of strangers, the Home Secretary told LBC: "No, I think we're a country where everybody, I think, wants to see a strong country where we train people in the UK, but also to see net migration come down. I think that makes sense."

Setting out Labour's position this morning, amid criticism, Ms Cooper said: "I think our country has benefited over very many years, through generations, from people coming to the UK, being part of our communities and working in our public services, but I also think that the level of migration needs to be controlled and managed, and it needs to come down, and that's important.

"We've got to make sure that we're investing in the skills and training for people in the UK.

"We saw that really big increase in net migration in the space of just four years, while overseas recruitment shot up at the same time as skills and training in the UK were cut, and that's what we're determined to turn around."

6 days ago09:50 Michael Knowles

More from Yvette Cooper's morning media round...

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted "migration needs to be controlled and managed, and it needs to come down".

Ms Cooper said overseas recruitment soared while investment in training fell.

(Image: Getty)

6 days ago09:35 Michael Knowles

But many fear the plan lacks substance

Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick declared: “It’s a white flag for yet more mass migration - legal and illegal.

“For the boats to keep coming.

“For our borders to stay open. It’s another shameful betrayal of voters.

“Labour’s big plan on illegal migration? To ‘clarify’ the law on Article 8 of the ECHR - commonly used to avoid deportation.

“But this does nothing to stop people using other routes, like Article 3, to stay here. If they were serious, they would disapply the Human Rights Act altogether.

“Mass, low-skilled migration has been a disaster for Britain. It has made us poorer and more divided. Less investment. Lower wages. Higher rents. Longer NHS queues. More potholes. Bigger class sizes. Weaker culture.

“The bath is overflowing, and they’re turning down the tap slightly. The only way to fix this is a legally-binding cap on visas, voted on by Parliament every year. Starmer says a cap has been tried. That simply isn’t true.

“The British people deserve better than this. We need action, not more consultations and delay. Like Blair, Starmer’s immigration policy is a recipe for disaster.”

CPS Research Director Karl Williams said: “The measures proposed fall some way short of those actually required to get migration down to the kind of levels which the public would be happy with.

“For example, cutting the time someone can stay in the UK on a Graduate visa from 24 months to 18 months will do nothing to address the problem of those using student and graduate visas to access the country with the primary intent to work, not to study, and then switching to other routes to extend their stay.

“The Government has also acknowledged the enormous increase in family visas and difficulties in deported foreign offenders back to their home countries, yet the White Paper takes no decisive action on either issue - simply kicking the can down the road until at least the end of the year.

“Ultimately the government has refused to commit to a numerical level of net migration.

“It is disappointing that the Government has so far refused to consider this option.”

Reform UK Deputy Leader Lee Anderson said: "Labour’s various proposals to halt illegal migration have been nothing more than publicity stunts aimed at winning back disillusioned voters.

"This was evident on Monday, when Starmer announced a plan to reduce migration—but refused to set a cap on the number of immigrants allowed in, knowing full well they would exceed it.

"Their bogus migration strategy is a response to our growing success in the polls.

"Starmer proposed extending the time requirement for gaining “settled status,” scrapping social care visas, and requiring an undergraduate degree to qualify for skilled worker visas.

"He also plans to make it easier to obtain UK citizenship.

"At no point in his address did he explain how he intends to secure our borders."

6 days ago09:31 Michael Knowles

What have some of the Prime Minister's critics said?

Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake suggested the phrase could "risk legitimising the same far-right violence we saw in last year's summer riots".

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who lost the Labour whip last year, accused Sir Keir of "reflecting the language" of Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech in the 1960s.

Zarah Sultana, the independent MP for Coventry South, wrote that Starmer had "imitated" Powell's speech.

She added: "That speech fuelled decades of racism and division. Echoing it today is a disgrace. It adds to anti-migrant rhetoric that puts lives at risk. Shame on you, Keir Starmer."

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6 days ago09:27 Michael Knowles

The UK is 'already an island of strangers'

Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick suggested he agreed with the PM's characterisation, which has drawn comparisons with Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech.

Asked what he made of the Prime Minister's language, shadow justice secretary Mr Jenrick told Times Radio: "I think it's true. In fact, I think in some places we already are. Aggressive levels of mass migration have made us more divided.

"If you look at communities in our country, for example central Bradford, 50% of people were born outside of the United Kingdom; in central Luton, 46% of residents arrived in the past decade.

"There are places like Dagenham where the white British population has fallen by almost 60% in the last 25 years.

"People in many parts of our country are experiencing profound change as a result of the levels of migration that we've seen, and we've got to bring that back to the historic levels that we enjoyed as a country which enabled us to be a well-integrated and united country, rather than the one that we're seeing today."

6 days ago09:23 Michael Knowles

Yvette Cooper rejects criticism of Keir Starmer's speech

Yvette Cooper has defended Sir Keir Starmer amid criticism that his language as he set out plans to crack down on migration echoed Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech.

The Home Secretary insisted the tone of the Prime Minister's migration plan was "completely different" from the 1968 anti-immigration speech.

The plans, which are expected to reduce the number of people coming to the UK by up to 100,000 per year, include reforming work and study visas and requiring a higher level of English across all immigration routes.

Labour backbenchers were among those who attacked Sir Keir for the language he used to announce the plans on Monday, including his claim that the UK risks becoming an "island of strangers" if ministers do not act on migration.

In his 1968 speech, Mr Powell said people could find themselves "strangers in their own country" as a result of migration.

Mr Powell was sacked from the Conservative frontbench as a result of making the speech, because it outraged senior Tories at the time.

Asked about the comparison, Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't think it's right to make those comparisons. It's completely different.

"And the Prime Minister said yesterday, I think almost in the same breath... talked about the diverse country that we are, and that being part of our strength."

Asked if Sir Keir's speech-writers had been aware of the similarity in language, the Home Secretary replied: "I don't know."

(Image: Getty)

6 days ago09:07 Michael Knowles

'Another shameful betrayal of voters'

Sir Keir Starmer’s immigration plans have been branded “a recipe for disaster” as critics warned of more mass migration in the years ahead.

The Home Office has predicted its changes will lead to 100,000 fewer people coming to the UK, meaning net migration could settle at around 240-250,000 by the end of this Parliament in 2029.

But former immigration minister Robert Jenrick declared: “It’s a white flag for yet more mass migration – legal and illegal.

“For the boats to keep coming. For our borders to stay open. It’s another shameful betrayal of voters."