Over recent months, and right across the country, we have seen public anger and protests over the continued inability of the government to control our borders and stem the flow of illegal immigration to our shores.
You can read my statement on this pressing issue here:
Mims Davies MP Statement on Illegal Immigration | Mims Davies
However, I am also acutely aware the number of legal migrants coming to the UK is far too high, placing significant and unsustainable pressure on our housing supply and public services. While I am proud a good proportion of the increase in migration since 2021 has been for humanitarian reasons that few would disagree with - taking in refugees from the Ukraine war and British overseas nationals from the clampdown imposed under the National security law by the Chinese communist Party in Hong Kong alongside refugees on the Afghan resettlement scheme and other safe humanitarian routes - I agreed with the Leader of the Opposition when she emphasised in her speech in November 2024, that the previous Government made plenty of mistakes in this area and failed to deliver. You can read her speech in full here:
Kemi Badenoch's CPS Speech: It is time to tell the truth about immigration | Kemi Badenoch
Kemi said the UK "cannot sustain the numbers we have seen" on immigration.
"We are reducing the quality of life for people already here because immigration is at a pace too fast to maintain public services, and at a rate where it is next to impossible to integrate those from radically different cultures," she said.
The ties that bind us start to fray.
It doesn't matter whether you are massively for immigration or massively against it, without a shared national identity, our country will suffer."
I agree. As a country, we must do everything possible to reduce these numbers and I welcome the fact that policy decisions taken by the previous government led to a reduction of nearly 50 per cent between December 2023 and December 2024. However, this is not nearly enough — we must go much further to reform this broken system.
I supported the previous Government’s decision to prevent overseas care workers from bringing family dependants and to raise the salary threshold for skilled workers by nearly 50 per cent to £38,700 once we saw how these visas were being misused. These measures ensured individuals could only bring dependants they were able to support financially and encouraged businesses to look to British talent first, investing in their workforces.
These actions built on the tough measures we introduced in January 2024 to address the substantial rise in students bringing dependants to the UK. The Higher Education sector has become a back door to long term settlement in the UK with significant numbers of overseas students now claiming asylum, raising serious concerns about student visa misuse.
I am deeply disappointed the Labour Government halted the proposed increase to the family visa salary threshold of £38,700. I will continue to campaign for the Government to implement and retain these policies as they curb abuse of the immigration system and should deliver significant reductions in net migration. Under these rules, 300,000 people who came to the UK in 2022 would not have been eligible. Evidence suggests this policy has had the desired effect.
I believe the recent falls in net migration under this Labour government are linked to those decisions made under the previous Conservative government; however, far more needs to be done to reduce numbers and, fundamentally, the UK needs to take a different approach to immigration.
We will put forward a full and detailed plan for immigration before the next election. This plan will be comprehensive, take a range of factors into account, include a strict numerical cap and changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). The right for immigrants to remain indefinitely in the United Kingdom and to acquire British citizenship should be a privilege that is earned, not an automatic right. These privileges should be reserved for those who have made a real commitment to the UK. Therefore, we have proposed sensible changes to ILR. These changes included:
- Newcomers should wait 10 years, instead of 5, before they can apply to stay indefinitely under the Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) scheme.
- After that, it should take 5 years, not just 12 months, to apply for British Citizenship.
- Those who have claimed benefits or housing aid while on a work visa should not be allowed to stay indefinitely. We believe that everyone who comes here should contribute more than they take out.
- Applicants must not have a criminal record.
- These changes would not apply to those on the Ukraine scheme and British National (Overseas) from Hong Kong visas.
These measures are sensible and appropriate, recognising that unless action is taken there will be massive costs to the country. Work by a policy think tank highlighted the lifetime net fiscal cost could be thousands of pounds for every UK household.
On this basis, earlier in the year, Conservative MPs took proactive steps and tabled amendments to make these changes in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, setting out practical measures to create a fairer migration system. This includes automatic deportation for anyone who arrives in the country illegally, as well as for any convicted foreign national offenders. The Deportation Bill also set out new powers to revoke Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), double the residency requirement for ILR, tighten visa rules for partners and civil partners, apply visa sanctions for uncooperative countries and remove GDPR protections from foreign criminals and illegal immigrants.
Unfortunately, other MPs, including Government Ministers on the Bill committee, voted against the changes including a refusal to support an Opposition Amendment disapplying the Human Rights Act — a much more comprehensive measure than the minor changes proposed in the Government’s Immigration White Paper. Considering the Prime Minister's record of attempting to halt the deportation of foreign offenders, and his previous suggestion the whole of the UK is better off because of immigration, I am not surprised the Government Immigration White Paper is not as robust as it should be.
I recognise there are some people who still believe the issue of legal migration does not deserve attention and prominence in the national debate. However, I think this is the wrong approach - immigration as a whole needs to come down significantly. High levels of immigration have put pressure on housing, public services, social cohesion, and the economy. The Labour Government appears to have finally acknowledged that mass low-wage, low-skilled migration undermines our economy’s productivity and cost taxpayers a great deal of money yet it has continually rejected stronger proposals. Its current plan suggests only relatively small decreases in net migration. Therefore, it is essential that I, along with other members of the Conservative Party, continue to scrutinise the Government and put forward detailed and effective proposals to reduce migration beyond what has been outlined.
I was interested to watch the recent Reform press conference on this issue and see many of our policies, on welfare reform and immigration, put forward – as my colleague the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Helen Whately, said,
‘Not necessarily the wrong idea...but amateur execution”
Earlier in the year, Kemi also set up a commission – led by respected legal expert, Lord Wolfson - to examine whether the UK should withdraw from a series of international legal agreements, including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and overturn some domestic legislation which I believe we can all now see has been binding the hands of British governments to affect meaningful change. The commission is expected to report when the Conservative Party meets for its annual conference this weekend.
I know the Conservative Party have a long way to go to regain the trust of the people and many have become rightly frustrated with an immigration system which has become ever more confused and litigious; and fairness seems to have been lost along the way.
We do absolutely need a way to offer support in times of conflict and to do our bit for the most vulnerable in times of need. We can and must get a balance right between supporting home-grown skills and business needs. The immigration system should not be the default for those who want to play the system and not do the right thing.
I hope recognising this demonstrates both my commitment and that of the party to take the tough decisions needed to deliver the long-term change our country requires and reduce legal migration to more sustainable levels and that we have, as the Official Opposition, under new leadership, been working on the technical policy detail of these ambitious reforms since the General Election, building on measures we introduced before it, and pushing this Labour government to commit to tough but fair amendments to reduce legal immigration now.
