Keir Starmer says migration figures show Tories were running ‘open borders experiment’ by design – UK politics live

Here is the passage from Keir Starmer’s opening statement where he accused the Conservatives of running an “open borders experiment”. He said

When we came into office – we immediately conducted an audit of public finances and we found a £22bn black hole.

Now – the independent Office of National Statistics has conducted vital work on the state of immigration and found the previous government were running an open borders experiment.

As the ONS sets out, nearly one million people came to Britain in the year ending June 2023. That is four times the migration levels compared with 2019.

Time and again – the Conservative party promised they would get those numbers down. Time and again – they failed.

And now the chorus of excuses has begun. We heard that from the leader of the opposition, yesterday.

But what we didn’t hear what the British people are owed is an explanation.

Because a failure on this scale isn’t just bad luck it isn’t a global trend or taking your eye off the ball.

No – this a different order of failure. This happened by design, not accident.

Policies were reformed deliberately to liberalise immigration.

Brexit was used for that purpose to turn Britain into a one-nation experiment in open borders.

Global Britain – remember that slogan. That is what they meant. A policy with no support and which they then pretended wasn’t happening.

And now they want to wave it away with a simple “we got it wrong”.

Well that’s unforgivable. And mark my words – this government will turn the page.

Q: Nigel Farage says Donald Trump hates the deal transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Is he right?

Starmer says the Chagos Islands deal is a good one. He says the government is taking it forward.

Q: Will you set a target for reducing immigration?

Starmer says:

I want to see immigration come down significantly. I said that before the election, I said that during the election, I say it again here today.

That means bearing down on the influences that have driven it up this high with the measures that I set out a moment ago. We had a supposed cap in place for the best part of a decade, and it didn’t have any meaningful impact on reducing immigration.

So I don’t think setting an arbitrary cap, which is what previous governments have done, is the way forward. But do I want it to significantly reduce? Yes, I do, and that’s what our plan will achieve.

Q: Have you changed your view on assisted dying?

Starmer says it is a genuinely free vote. He does not want to put pressure on MPs. He has got a huge amount of experience on this. As DPP, he looked at every case for five years. He will vote tomorrow, he says.

Starmer is now taking questions.

Q: [From Beth Rigby from Sky News] People feel let down by their politicians. What does bringing net migration down. Are you talking about the low hundred thousands? And how does that square with your need for economic growth?

Starmer says people were let down. This kind of increase was unprecedented. The rise in immigration was “off the scale”.

He says it will take “hard graft” to get it down.

He wants immigration to come down “significantly”, he says.

But he repeats the point about the four-fold increase not being “bad luck”, but “their policy”.

He says what they have discovered today is another “legacy failure”.

UPDATE: Starmer said:

When you say people have been let down, you are absolutely right because they were promised by the last government that we would get control of our borders and we had a government that completely lost control of our borders.

This sort of increase is unprecedented. It is off the scale what has happened in four short years. The way to get it down is the hard graft, not the gimmicks but the hard graft of driving it own on the skills agenda, migration advisory committee, making sure we are cracking down on employers that are breaking the rules.

Starmer says the government will soon publish a white paper on plans to reduce immigration.

The Migration Advisory Committee is already conducting a review, he says.

And, in areas where employers are over-reliant on foreign workers, the government will crack down.

He says the UK will no longer be a soft touch. Employers who do not cooperate will be banned from hiring foreign labour.

UPDATE: Starmer said:

We will publish a white paper imminently, which sets out a plan to reduce immigration.

The Migration Advisory Committee is already conducting a review and where we find clear evidence of sectors that are overreliant on immigration, we will reform the points-based system and make sure that applications for the relevant visa routes, whether it’s the skilled worker route or the shortage occupation list, will now come with new expectations on training people here in our country.

We will also crack down on any abuse of the visa routes.

For far too long, we’ve been casual about malpractice in our labour market, which sends a clear signal overseas that we’re a soft touch.

Well, no more – our rules will be enforced.

Any employers who refuse to play ball, they’ll be banned from hiring overseas labour.

Keir Starmer says the figures from the ONS today show the last government were running “an open borders experiment”.

He makes the point, made by a Labour spokesperson earlier (see 11.25am), about how the figures show net migration going up four times under the Tories.

This wasn’t just bad luck, he says.

He claims this happened by design. It was an experiment to turn Britain into a country with open borders.

And now the Tories want to wave this away with a simple “we got it wrong”.

That is unforgiveable, he says.

Every pensioner in Scotland will receive a winter heating payment next year, the Scottish government has announced. PA Media says:

Ministers were forced to delay plans to bring in the devolved pension age winter heating payment this year when the universality of its UK-wide counterpart was cut.

This afternoon social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville announced the Scottish government will ensure every pensioner receives a payment next year.

Under the plans, those in receipt of pension credit or other benefits and who have received a £200 or £300 payment this year will get the same next year through the devolved scheme.

All other pensioners will receive a reduced payment of £100.

As well as widening the eligibility of the payment, Somerville also announced a further £20m for the Scottish Welfare Fund and the same amount for Warmer Homes Scotland in this financial year.

The Scottish government, she said, has been forced to “mitigate” decisions made by the UK government, adding: “There has been change, but that change is that we are now mitigating against a Labour government and not a Tory one.

“We have not taken this decision lightly, given the significant pressures on the Scottish government’s budget, but this Scottish government is determined to stay true to our values.

“On our watch, we will treat people in this country with fairness, dignity and respect.

“We will not abandon older people this winter, or indeed any winter, and we will continue to protect our pensioners from the harsh reality of a UK Labour government.”

Keir Starmer’s government has signed a deal with Iraq to tackle people smugglers across Europe, Rajeev Syal reports.