“Global Britain – Remember that Slogan?” asked Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in November 2024, when he made changes to the immigration system to curb migration, an issue that has defined British politics for decades. During that speech, he called previous immigration policies “a different order of failure,” which “happened by design” under the consecutive Conservative governments.
On May 12, the PM introduced the new set of directives for migration policy.
“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.”
The Most Pressing: Net Migration
Net migration is the difference between immigration, people arriving, and emigration, the people leaving a country. According to the Office of National Statistics, net migration hit a record of 906,000 in the year ending June 2023, while the latest estimate of the year ending June 2024 recorded 845,000 as long-term net migration. This was estimated in November, with the latest release scheduled to be published on 22 May 2025.
While Starmer has abstained from setting a concrete target number or an overall cap on annual migration, he did promise it “will fall significantly” by the end of this parliament; “that is what this plan is intended to achieve.”
New Policies to Deter Migrants
The change affecting most is the restriction of the work visa, for which applicants must now have a degree-level qualification; a move that, according to ministers, affects approximately 180 jobs. The measure will be temporary in sectors facing long-term employment challenges.
However, more individuals are now eligible for a High Potential Individual Visa, which is set up to attract graduates from elite foreign universities. English language requirements will be increased across the board, and those extending visas will be expected to produce the new standard upon application.
Furthermore, industries heavily relying on foreign labour – such as IT, construction, and healthcare – will be expected to “produce, or update, a workforce strategy,” which employers should follow to enhance domestic worker skills and mobilise “the economically inactive.”
Care visas, introduced during the pandemic, will also be abolished to support this move.
According to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, these changes could cut up to 50,000 low-skilled jobs in the next year. To make up for the loss, she explains, employers will have to hire British nationals or have international workers renew visas.
Another major change is the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain; most immigrants will now be required to live in the UK for 10 instead of 5 years. They can strive to reduce this through the new “earned settlement” system, which allows people to “earn their right to privileged immigration status in the UK through the long-term contribution they bring to our country.”
Reform UK’s Pressure Breaks Labour
Migration was a top priority and a major reason for ‘Yes’ to be the winning Brexit vote. Nigel Farage, who at the time led the UKIP party and now leads Reform UK, has emphasised immigration as a major issue; most prominently, UKIP advocated the EU as the major source of immigration issues with the “Breaking Point” poster.
In the last elections, held on the May 1, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has gained a lot of ground in what experts called a “major challenge to the traditional two-party dominance.” After the vote Keir Starmer said that he took the message that his party needed to go “further and faster on the change that people want to see.”
When asked if he is doing it to curb Reform’s progression, Starmer simply answered he is not doing it to gain political ground but “because it is right. Because it is fair. Because it is what I believe in.”
The move might have been a calculated one to steal away Reform’s right-wing voters but risks alienating the centre-leftist base that elected Labour to govern; some in his own party have likened his speech to that of Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech.
Is Migration What Makes the UK an “island of strangers”?
Opposition has found it difficult to call the new directives completely unnecessary but disagreed on how it should be tweaked; Conservatives support it, Reform wants more, Greens called it “panicked,” and Liberal Democrats say there needs to be a more concrete plan to recruit workers to make up for losses.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney was swift in expressing his distaste for the policies, citing the white paper as damaging the Scottish “economy, the NHS, social care and our universities” and as “not in Scotland’s name.”
British voters have been promised changes in migration tendencies for the last 20 years. Whether Starmer’s policies will bring this about, is yet to be seen, but the issue will remain a constant balancing act between what voters at large seem to expect and what long-time supporters, unions, and humanitarian concerns require.
