UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a press briefing on Monday.
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00:00Good morning. Today we publish a white paper on immigration, a strategy absolutely central
00:11to my plan for change that will finally take back control of our borders and close the book
00:20on a squalid chapter for our politics, our economy and our country. Take back control.
00:30Everyone knows that slogan and everyone knows what it meant on immigration or at least
00:37that's what people thought because what followed from the previous government starting with
00:44the people who used that slogan was the complete opposite. Between 2019 and 2023 even as they were
00:54going round our country telling people with a straight face that they would get immigration
01:00down, net migration quadrupled until in 2023 it reached nearly 1 million. That's about the population
01:12of Birmingham, our second largest city. That's not control, it's chaos. And look, they must answer
01:23for themselves. But I don't think that you can do something like that by accident. It was a choice,
01:31a choice made even as they told you, told the country, they were doing the opposite. A one-nation
01:40experiment in open borders conducted on a country that voted for control. Well, no more. Today this
01:51Labour government is shutting down the lab. The experiment is over. We will deliver what you've
01:58asked for time and again. And we will take back control of our borders. And let me tell you why.
02:08Because I know on a day like today, people who like politics will try to make this all about politics,
02:17about this or that strategy, targeting these voters, responding to that party. No. I'm doing this
02:28because it is right, because it is fair, and because it is what I believe in.
02:37Let me put it this way. Nations depend on rules, fair rules. Sometimes they're written down,
02:45often they're not. But either way, they give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights,
02:54of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other.
03:03Now, in a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more important.
03:10Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.
03:19So when you have an immigration system that seems almost designed to permit abuse, that encourages some
03:26businesses to bring in lower paid workers rather than invest in our young people,
03:33or simply one that is sold by politicians to the British people on an entirely false premise,
03:40then you're not championing growth. You're not championing justice, or however else people defend the status quo.
03:49You're actually contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart.
03:53So yes, I believe in this. I believe we need to reduce immigration. Significantly.
04:04That's why some of the policies in this white paper go back nearly three years.
04:10Why I told the Labour Party conference, taking back control is a Labour argument.
04:16And why, most importantly of all, inward migration is already falling with this government.
04:25It's about fairness.
04:27And look, I mean, migration is part of Britain's national story.
04:33We talked last week about the great rebuilding of this country after the war.
04:38Migrants were part of that, and they make a massive contribution today, and you will never hear me denigrate that.
04:49But when people come to our country, they should also commit to integration, to learning our language.
04:57And our system should actively distinguish between those that do and those that don't.
05:03I think that's fair.
05:07Equally, Britain must compete for the best talent in the world.
05:12In science, in technology, in healthcare.
05:16You can't simply pull up a drawbridge, let nobody in, and think that's an economy that would work.
05:24That would hurt the pay packets of working people without question.
05:28But at the same time, we do have to ask why parts of our economy seem almost addicted to importing cheap labour,
05:38rather than investing in the skills of people who are here and want a good job in their community.
05:45Sectors like engineering, where visas have rocketed, while apprenticeships have plummeted.
05:52Is that fair to Britain?
05:55Is that fair to young people, weighing up their future, to miss out on those apprentices?
06:02To see colleges in their community almost entirely dedicated to one-year courses for overseas students?
06:10No, I don't think that it is.
06:14And truth be told, I don't think anybody does.
06:17Yet that is the Britain this broken system has created.
06:23So as this white paper sets out, every area of the immigration system, work, family and study,
06:32will be tightened up so we have more control.
06:36Skill requirements raised to degree level.
06:39English language requirements across all routes, including for dependents.
06:44The time it takes to acquire status, extended from five years to ten.
06:50And enforcement tougher than ever.
06:53Because fair rules must be followed.
06:57Now, make no mistake, this plan means migration will fall.
07:03That's a promise.
07:05But I want to be very clear on this.
07:07If we do need to take further steps, if we do need to do more to release pressure on housing and our public services,
07:17then mark my words, we will.
07:19But it's not just about numbers.
07:24Because the chaos of the previous government also changed the nature of immigration in this country.
07:32Fewer people who make a strong economic contribution.
07:36More who work in parts of our economy that put downward pressure on wages.
07:41So perhaps the biggest shift in this white paper is that we will finally honour what take back control meant.
07:51And begin to choose who comes here.
07:55So that migration works for our national interest.
07:59You know, this is where the whole debate is skewed.
08:02As if some people think controlling immigration is reining in a sort of natural freedom.
08:11Rather than the basic and reasonable responsibility of government.
08:15To make choices that work for a nation's economy.
08:20And for years this seems to have muddled our thinking.
08:23But let me be clear, it ends now.
08:26We will create a migration system that is controlled, selective and fair.
08:34A clean break with the past that links access to visas directly to investment in homegrown skills.
08:42So that if a business wants to bring people in from abroad, they must first invest in Britain.
08:48But also, so settlement becomes a privilege that is earned, not a right.
08:56Easier if you make a contribution.
08:58If you work, pay in and help rebuild our country.
09:03Now some people may even be against that.
09:08But I think for the vast majority of people in this country, that is what they have long wanted to see.
09:14An immigration system that is fair, that works for our national interest, and that restores common sense and control to our borders.
09:24That is what this white paper will deliver.
09:27Lower net migration, higher skills, backing British workers.
09:33The start of repairing our social contract, which the chaos and cynicism of the last government did so much to undermine.
09:45I will now take a number of questions from the media.
09:49I've got a hopefully accurate list here, starting with Chris Mason, BBC.
09:57Thank you, Prime Minister. Chris Mason, BBC News.
09:59Let's be clear, are you promising today that net migration will fall every year between now and the next election, come what may?
10:06Well, I'm promising it will fall significantly, and I do want to get it down by the end of this parliament significantly.
10:14That is what this plan is intended to achieve, the complete opposite of what you saw in the last four years.
10:19It is frankly incredible that net migration quadrupled in four short years to nearly one million.
10:26This white paper, these plans, bring it back into control, make sure it's controlled, that it's selective, that we decide who comes to this country, and that it is fair.
10:38And that's what we will do, significant reduction in immigration, and as I've indicated, if it becomes necessary to take further measures, then that's what we will do.
10:48Robert, ITV.
10:50Robert Preston, ITV.
10:52And, Prime Minister, you know that countries that want to grow are in a global race for top talent.
10:58Talent, your number one priority is growth.
11:02Haven't you shot yourself in the foot by insisting that those who want to be citizens now have to live here twice as long as those who want to be American citizens?
11:15And, if I may, we've just heard that there will be a 90-day massive reduction in the tariffs that China and America are imposing on each other.
11:28Are you relieved that at least temporarily they've laid down their economic arms?
11:32Well, let me take both those points, although I'm not encouraging two questions each because we've got to just get through this.
11:39On the growth question, I do think this is worth taking some time on because the theory that higher migration numbers necessarily leads to higher growth has been tested in the last four years.
11:57So, we've had the highest net migration when the last government lost control to nearly 1 million and stagnant growth.
12:05And so, that link doesn't hold on that evidence.
12:09The second thing is that this white paper is not just a white paper on immigration.
12:15It's also a white paper that deals with skills and training.
12:18And one of the reasons that we've had stagnant growth, in my view, for years is because we've underinvested chronically in skills and growth.
12:27So, by putting skills and growth into the same plan as migration, which is something businesses have been asking for for years, you actually answer the growth question as well.
12:36And I should say as a footnote to that, as you heard in the speech and you'll see in the white paper, in relation to high talent, where we want the very best into the country, we will have routes to get that talent into this country.
12:50And I think there's real potential for us to do so in the current environment, and we intend to do so.
12:55On the question of the China tariffs, I just saw something flash up in the room back there.
12:59I'm not across the complete detail.
13:01I'm very pleased, obviously, that we struck our trade deal with the U.S. last week, which will be measured in very many thousands of jobs and billions of pounds into our economy.
13:11Thank you, Robert.
13:11Sam from Sky.
13:13Sam.
13:14Sam, come to Sky.
13:15He's Prime Minister.
13:15Just to pick up on growth and migration.
13:18One of the reasons that we've had a laxer migration policy for years is because of, basically, the Treasury view.
13:25Successive chancellors, their fiscal rules, and the way that that interacts with the official forecasts means it's always been an easy win to have more growth by having more people in the country.
13:34What's your message today to the Treasury, to the OBR, and are you doing anything to actually change the way that they work and look at all this stuff and calculate the cost-benefit analysis of growth and migration?
13:48Yeah, well, thank you, Sam.
13:50Just succinctly, and then adding to the answer I just gave.
13:53Firstly, the pure theory, if you like, that simply higher migration numbers necessarily leads to higher growth, I think has been tested in the last four years.
14:00We quadrupled in, actually, a very short period of time.
14:04And, you know, I think whatever political persuasion you are, it is quite extraordinary that net migration quadrupled in four years.
14:13We've never seen that before in this country, but growth didn't shift.
14:18It stayed stagnant.
14:20Secondly, this point about skills and migration.
14:22What businesses have been calling out for for a long time is link migration to the skills and training that we need in this country.
14:29In the past, governments have done sort of knee-jerk reductions without making that link.
14:35We're making that link in this paper, which is really important in terms of where we go with the economy, because I do think it's under investment in those areas that's caused a lot of the problem.
14:47The other thing that the paper is doing is readjusting the model, because it's got to a place now where there's many more low-skilled jobs rather than high-skilled jobs.
14:58So by adjusting the threshold for skills, this allows migration to be in the areas of high skills, which are more likely to make a significant contribution to our economy.
15:08Thank you very much, Sam.
15:10I've got Gary from Channel 4.
15:12Thank you very much, Prime Minister.
15:14Have you been on a bit of a journey yourself on this?
15:16Did you used to believe that higher immigration led to higher growth?
15:20Would Keir Starmer a few years ago have talked about an island of strangers?
15:24Are you one of the people who now thinks that Article 8 of the ECHR is actually a problem and not something that's just exaggerated by other people?
15:31Well, Gary, thank you very much.
15:33I invite you to dig out my conference speech at Labour Party conference.
15:35I know you remember them all, but three years ago now, I think it was, when I made the very political argument that I've made this morning,
15:45which is that take back control, understanding why you need control, selection of fair and grossness, is a Labour argument.
15:54And once you've dug out that transcript, there's then the speech I made to the CBI, I think, about three years ago,
15:58making the same argument in relation to business, saying too many businesses, in my view, are too dependent on migration rather than training and skilling out people in this country.
16:09And that was, I was signalling to the CBI then that that would change under a Labour government.
16:13So there's a core consistency through here.
16:17On Article 8, yeah, we do want to ensure that the right balance is made in migration cases in relation to the national interest.
16:27There's a balance set out in legislation already.
16:30That needs to be adjusted, in my view, and that's what we will do.
16:33Thank you, Gary.
16:35Chris.
16:36Chris Hope, sorry.
16:37There's a lot of Chris's.
16:38Chris Hope, GB News.
16:40Prime Minister, we've been here before, haven't we?
16:42There have been three Immigration Acts since 2014, the Immigration Act in 2014 and 2016, both aimed to reduce immigration.
16:51They both failed.
16:52Why on earth should GB News viewers think you're going to succeed?
16:57And why not give us a promise right now, not a, not a, not a, why not give us a fixed target right now, not a promise, so we can judge you on success?
17:04The Toys at least did that, but they failed.
17:05Well, look, the difference here, this is the most comprehensive plan that has been put forward.
17:13It's been forward to end the Tory sort of wild open borders experiment that we have had.
17:18You're right about that.
17:21And it looks at all routes and it's comprehensive and it does the hard yards of linking skills and business to what we need to do with the economy.
17:31So it's not a narrow look just at the numbers, it puts them in their proper context.
17:37On the question, which we do want to significantly reduce migration, I'm absolutely making clear that's what it will do and that if we need to go further, we will.
17:45So that's the promise I make to your viewers.
17:48I don't think it's sensible to put a hard-edged cap on it.
17:51That has been done in one form or another for the best part of 10 years by different prime ministers.
17:56The only thing that links those prime ministers and the various caps or quotas or limits they put in place is every single one of them failed.
18:05And therefore, going down the failed route is not a sensible way for me, as with everything that I do.
18:11Serious, pragmatic, looking at the things that will actually make a material difference.
18:15Thank you, Chris.
18:17Gerry from The Times.
18:17What is your message to the 9 million inactive adults in the UK at the moment who might not think that they should take work in a care home, for example,
18:28and also to some of your Labour MPs who might be squeamish about Labour government taking a tough line on immigration?
18:34Well, firstly, that's acknowledged within that 9 million there are some people who can't work and we need to be clear about that from the start.
18:42But there are others who can, and as we've set out in our welfare provisions, the principles are clear.
18:50Where people can't work and are unlikely to be able to work, they should be protected and supported.
18:55But where people can get into work, they should be supported.
18:59The current system does the opposite, and so we will support them into work with a £1 billion package, the right to try, measures like that.
19:07And that if you can work, you should work.
19:11And I do think that this white paper should be seen in conjunction with what we're doing on welfare.
19:19And on squeamishness, I actually think that the Labour Party has as core values the idea that immigration should be controlled,
19:31that it should be selective.
19:33We should be choosing who we want, the higher skills, the high-talent routes into our country.
19:40And it must be fair.
19:41They're basic Labour arguments and concepts for many, many years.
19:45I've got Jack from The Sun.
19:47Jack.
19:47Thank you, Prime Minister.
19:48You said just now that this is a comprehensive plan to bring down legal migration.
19:53You also said in the election you had a comprehensive plan to bring down illegal migration.
19:57And so far it seems that isn't working.
19:59Small boat crossings are going up on your watch.
20:01So why should voters think that your plan to bring down illegal migration will fare any better,
20:05especially given you're considering an EU youth mobility scheme, which could actually increase it?
20:10Well, let's tackle that head on, because nobody but nobody should be getting in a small boat to cross over the channel
20:19and illegally entering this country.
20:22The last government lost control of the borders.
20:25It falls to this government to clear up that mess in the same way we're clearing up all the other messes that they left behind.
20:32I am convinced that the way to do that is to take down the gangs that are running the vile trade.
20:37And for that reason, we've drafted and put before Parliament a borders bill,
20:41which follows through on the promises I made, which is we need to give law enforcement greater powers.
20:48Going down the counterterrorism powers, the thing that distinguishes counterterrorism from other law enforcement is you can take action earlier.
20:56You can be preemptive.
20:57You can operate in a completely different way.
20:59That's why we've gone for a package that allows law enforcement to get in much earlier.
21:03That is going through Parliament.
21:06Who is voting against that?
21:08The Tories who caused the problem in the first place.
21:12Thank you, Jack.
21:13Martin from the Daily Mail.
21:15Martin.
21:16Prime Minister Martin Beckford from the Daily Mail.
21:18Gary asked if you've been on a journey on net migration.
21:21Similarly, you talked about tough enforcement.
21:23One of today's measures is for foreign nationals convicted of any offence to be considered for deportation.
21:28Yet just five years ago, you signed a letter calling for the halt to a deportation flight that contained, amongst others, two people convicted of rape and three of GBH.
21:37Your views have changed, haven't they?
21:38No.
21:39I've always said that those who commit offences should be deported.
21:44I ran the Crown Prosecution Service for five years, between 2008 and 2013,
21:49and it fell to my prosecutors on my instructions to ask for the deportations in the first place in the Crown Court.
21:55So I've been really clear.
21:57I've been in charge of cases where we routinely asked for the judge, because that's the way the system operates in those days,
22:03to add to the sentence an order at the end that there should be a deportation.
22:07So what's that?
22:08That's going back the best part of 20 years.
22:10Thank you very much.
22:12And I've got Michael from the Daily Express.
22:14Michael.
22:15Does going further mean disentangling ourselves from the ECHR and disapplying human rights laws and immigration cases?
22:23No.
22:24I don't think that that is necessary.
22:28I also remind myself that the international agreements we've signed have given us the basis for the deals that we've struck on illegal migration.
22:38So the Home Secretary has moved fast, working with other countries, to put in place materially improved deals with other countries in relation to migration.
22:50That would not have been possible if we had been saying at the same time we're about to withdraw from our international obligations.
22:57I could give you many more examples than that, but you can't strike those deals with other countries to work more closely together on law enforcement, to smash the gangs,
23:09and to work on returns agreements, which is what we want to do, if in the next breath you're saying you don't believe in international law.
23:17If you do, you can strike the deals.
23:19If you don't, you can't.
23:20And one of the features of the last government is they struggled to strike these deals because other countries said,
23:26if you don't comply with international law, why should we write and agree an international agreement with you, which to me is plain common sense.
23:34Thank you very much.