Latest news with #massmigration
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour has betrayed its promise to stop the boats
Immigration policy is the single biggest avoidable failure of the political class in the past generation. It is one of the main reasons Labour won a landslide one year ago and is likely to be one of the main reasons it fails to get re-elected four years hence. Labour made extravagant, and in this case justified, attacks on the Tory record – a useful way of signalling it had become a normal party again after Corbyn – while, as in so many other areas, merely replicating that Tory failure, at least in relation to ' smashing the gangs '. Moreover, despite having so long to prepare for Government it seems to have done no original thinking on either legal or illegal immigration. That said, Labour's record on legal migration has been better than I expected, and the immigration white paper remains an extraordinary volte face for a pro-immigration party, eloquently making the case that mass migration sceptics have been making for 20 years. The biggest story of the past year has been the almost halving of net immigration to 431,000 in 2024, almost entirely due to measures taken by Rishi Sunak's government. But the white paper measures will build on Sunak in three important respects: the complete ban on social care visas, extending the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain from five to 10 years, and raising the skill threshold for skilled work visas that will make it much harder to bring in people for middle-skill jobs. The biggest disappointment was cutting the two year post-study work option for international students to 18 months rather than abolishing it or restricting it only to students at elite universities, especially as international students at lower status universities turn out not to contribute much to the cross-subsidy of domestic students. Nevertheless, Labour has probably achieved three, and maybe four, of its five pledges on immigration, a better record than most areas, though mainly thanks to Sunak government decisions. The pledges were: bring down net immigration, reduce reliance on overseas workers, tackle smuggling gangs, clear the asylum backlog and accelerate the removal of people without legal status in the UK. The asylum backlog initially went up after July 2024 when Sunak's Illegal Immigration Act was repealed but is now probably a little below the inherited level. Returns have continued the gentle upward trend that began in 2021 but only 3 per cent of small boat crossers have been returned and most of those are accounted for by the deal with Albania signed by the previous Government. There are some less promising signs too. The recent industrial strategy paper talked ominously about using the soon-to-be-revised temporary shortage list to plug skill gaps. There is the failure, too, to clamp down on the nearly half of food delivery drivers who the Home Office reckons are working illegally. And we should be reading headlines about training boot camps in the many skill shortage areas, akin to the way the HGV crisis was dealt with after the pandemic. But the great failure of Labour's first year was to repeal the Rwanda off-shoring plan with nothing to replace it. For all the talk of reset with the EU it is an astonishing breakdown of international co-operation that no agreement has been reached to automatically return all Channel crossers – now at a record 19,000 for the first six months of the year and more than 170,000 since 2018 – either to France or a coalition of European countries. A hard stop consistently applied to all crossers for just a few days would end the flow immediately; why pay $5,000 to a people smuggler to bring you to the UK if you are automatically returned? This is clearly in France's interests too as at least a proportion of those queuing at Calais would not arrive in France at all if the UK option was removed. On top of a guarantee that all those accepted back by France after the hard stop, surely no more than a couple of thousand, would be matched by someone taken from the French asylum lists, the UK would have to offer an extra sweetener to enable French politicians to sell the idea. Simple enough? Various plans for such a Rwanda-style off-shoring, but within Europe, have been floating around for months, some involving France others involving a broader coalition of the willing. A plan is finally expected in the next week or so, but it's unlikely to involve the kind of hard stop that is necessary. And why is there no plan to stop using asylum hotels within 12 months, rather than at the end of the Parliament (also unlikely to be achieved). Why not a new version of Homes for Ukraine or calling on diaspora groups to house their co-nationals? More generally Labour is zig-zagging on immigration, as on so much else, between a new toughness, in response to the Reform surge, and its old liberal instincts. The latter is symbolised by Keir Starmer's extraordinary expression of regret at his 'island of strangers' comment. Expect more zig-zagging ahead. This week The Telegraph is running a daily series on a Year of Labour, marking the anniversary of Starmer's election win on July 4. Come back at noon tomorrow to read Aaron Bastani on why Starmer isn't ready for the return of the Corbynistas
The Sun
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
ANOTHER Starmer U-turn as PM ‘deeply regrets' calling Britain an ‘island of strangers' to warn of mass migration
SIR Keir Starmer says he 'deeply regrets' calling Britain an 'island of strangers' to warn of mass migration. The PM disowned his comments from May despite doubling down at the time amid fury from many of his own MPs. It marks the fourth U-turn in a matter of weeks following retreats on winter fuel, a grooming national inquiry and welfare cuts. Sir Keir told the Observer he was not aware of the similarities to Enoch Powell's infamous Rivers of Blood speech. The PM said: 'I had no idea – and my speechwriters didn't know either. But that particular phrase – no – it wasn't right. I'll give you the honest truth: I deeply regret using it.' He said he should have read through the speech properly and 'held it up to the light a bit more'. In the speech last month, the Labour leader was plugging his visa crackdown to cut monster levels of net migration. He declared: 'In a diverse nation like ours … we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.' Last night, Tory Robert Jenrick said: 'It says it all that Starmer 'deeply regrets' saying Britain risks becoming an 'island of strangers'. 'By 2031, nearly a quarter of people in the UK will have been born abroad. 'Starmer regrets saying what's obviously true because he doesn't believe in borders or the nation state. 'Starmer now says he was just 'reading the words out', like a dummy. 'We need a leader, not a ventriloquist.' Britain's migrant crisis being fuelled by Putin's Russia and other hostile states in secret plot to destabilise Britain 1 'We need a leader that has vision.'
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Daily T: Can We Be Great Again? Jeremy Hunt on how to solve mass migration
Is it actually possible to solve the problem of mass migration? And more specifically, that of illegal migration? It's the policy issue that continues to sink successive governments - but Jeremy Hunt thinks he has the answer. Along with Camilla Tominey, Jeremy is joined by former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Alex Chalk, and Director of the Migration Observatory, Madeleine Sumption to put his ideas for solving the problem to the test. In this episode of The Daily T, Hunt admits that the Conservative party failed on immigration when they were in government, and that the issue was 'problematic in lots of Conservative seats' at the last general election, but also insists that 'Labour will bitterly regret cancelling the Rwanda scheme'. As well as outlining his case for international laws and treaties to be rewritten in order to fix the current 'intolerable situation', the former chancellor also makes the point that the people most concerned about uncontrolled immigration are actually immigrants themselves, that they're 'proud to be British' and don't like the idea that 'British hospitality is being abused'. In this special Daily T series inspired by his new book, Jeremy Hunt pitches his optimism and ideas to leading experts on how the UK can change the world for the better. From mass migration to leading the AI revolution, we ask, can we be great again? Can We Be Great Again?: Why a Dangerous World Needs Britain, by Jeremy Hunt (Swift Press, £25), is out now. Click here to order Watch episodes of the Daily T here. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Telegraph
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
How mass migration will transform your town
Mass migration is propping up the populations of towns and cities because of the collapse in Britain's birth rate. Across England, 173 council areas – around 58 per cent of the total – are on course to suffer a fall in their populations over the next 25 years without international or cross-border migration. The data, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), will raise concerns about the growing dependence of business and communities on migration as well as raising questions over integration. The figures suggest that immigration will fuel the majority of change across local areas and the country as a whole with 8.3 million more migrants arriving between 2022 and 2047. Without international migration, the population of England would fall from 57.1 million to 54.6 million, according to the projections. This figure also includes zero movement between England and Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. It comes just weeks after a report by Prof Matt Goodwin, based on ONS figures, which projected that white British people would become a minority in the UK population within the next 40 years. This was fuelled by immigration as well as lower fertility rates among the white population. Prof Goodwin forecasts that by the year 2100, six in 10 people in the UK will not have been born in the UK or born to two UK-born parents. 'This raises enormous questions about the capacity of our country and leaders to unify people around a shared sense of identity, values, ways of life, and culture, and avoid the very real risk of us becoming what Sir Keir Starmer referred to in May as 'an island of strangers',' said Prof Goodwin, of Buckingham University. Across 173 local areas, around one in three of the total, a complete ban on migration would lead to population decline, with Birmingham, Newham and Manchester among those losing over 100,000 residents in this scenario. Urban areas, such as Newham, Birmingham, Brent, Westminster and Manchester are all expected to see UK-based residents move away and be replaced with a steady flow of migrants. Meanwhile, areas with fewer residents will see massive amounts of people migrate towards them, including Cornwall, Somerset and Shropshire. The population estimates, the first at a local level since 2020, also highlight England's continued transition into an elderly-heavy, 'grey' population. By 2047, 78 council areas are projected to have at least one in four residents at retirement age, compared with just eight in 2022. Each area is affected differently by projected trends in birth rates and migration. Use our tool to see how it impacts you. The overall population across England is expected to increase by 12.7 per cent between 2022 and 2047. This would mark a slowdown from the preceding 25 years, when the population increased by 18.5 per cent. Just four local authorities will suffer a population decline using the best estimates of migration: Ipswich, North East Lincolnshire and Gosport, in Hampshire. Previous projections, released in 2018, suggested that 16 areas would see population decline, but this has likely been updated due to increasing international migration. In other areas, there are expected to be population explosions over the next quarter century, with five where populations are due to increase by more than 30 per cent, including South Derbyshire (38 per cent), Stratford-on-Avon (36 per cent) and Tower Hamlets (33 per cent). Based on current household sizes, this would require an additional 3.1 million houses by 2047, Telegraph analysis shows. Additionally, the country would need 18,022 more police officers and 4,730 more GPs to keep per capita levels at current rates. The make-up of your area Across England, the country will continue to grey, with more Baby Boomers entering retirement age, while birth rates among Millennials and Gen Z are expected to continue their sharp downward trend. By 2047, 19.6 per cent of adults will be 68 years or older, the expected pension age at that point, up from 15.6 per cent now. At least one in four residents will be retirement-age or older across swathes of the country, including Dorset, the New Forest, North Norfolk and Rother, where this will be as high as 30 per cent. Declining birth rates will also result in just 18 areas supporting a child-heavy population, defined as a local authority where more than one in five is under 18. Currently this is true in 165 (56 per cent) of all local authorities. In North Norfolk, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, less than 16 per cent of the population will be children. What will drive population change? Birth rates have fallen drastically in recent decades with each woman giving birth to an average of just 1.44 children in 2023. For the population to continue growing without migration, this figure must be above 2.1. This rate has not been hit since 1972. Across England, the number of deaths is expected to outstrip births by 2031. By 2047, 60,000 more people are expected to die than be born. Over the next 25 years, 187 of all local areas, roughly 62 per cent of the total, are projected to see more births than deaths.
The Sun
10-06-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
UK is teetering on the edge of a debt crisis & facing threat of annihilation… but politicians are powerless
BRITAIN is teetering on a debt crisis, crippled by a lack of growth and heaving under mass-migration while facing threats of disorder at home and annihilation abroad. But politicians are powerless to fundamentally change the country due to an overinflated, officious civil service and bureaucracy. 1 So says the man that was running Whitehall behind the scenes until six months ago. Former Cabinet Secretary Sir Simon Case spent decades at the heart of the Establishment; in No10, Buckingham Palace and the spy world. Guiding the ship of state through political turmoil, wars, Royal crises and a pandemic, there are few people who understand better how Britain really works. So the ex-mandarin's chilling warnings should make us all sit up and listen… Admitting 'there is a real sense that politics and political conversation and how we govern our country hasn't been working for ordinary working people for quite a long time', Sir Simon warns politicians are currently unable to fulfil voters hunger for change. Rachel Reeves will today unveil government spending plans for the next few years, yet Sir Simon fears Labour have hit the same challenges faced by previous governments in an 'all must have their say' culture that leaves the public picking up the tab. He says incoming governments of all stripes have found their promises to voters are left in tatters as they realise they only have the power to tinker at the edges of what needs to be done. And he warns the overbearing state strangles growth and reform while radical solutions to our border crisis languish in Whitehall and the courts - leaving the voters angrier and angrier, and trust in the system frayed to breaking point. He told The Sun: 'This is the call to arms now… it doesn't matter who's in power, we need to fix these things.' But if we do not, Sir Simon warns the he music might stop soon, saying: 'What I worry about most is actually having a properly functioning democracy… if you vote for change, you've got to get change. And if people keep voting and they don't get change, they start to wonder, why on earth am I spending my time… Why am I engaging? Why am I paying my taxes?' And he says politicians in all parties must now get real and wake up to the failings of the state or the consequences of not doing so will see the country slip down a dark path. 'There are moments in our history where we've had political violence', he said, 'but that isn't who we've become as a modern nation… And when you start to see people expressing their frustration in that way, we should all stop and listen and think, what is happening? You know, what is going on here?' 'Something is happening that we should all pay attention to', he added. Asked if we were yet at breaking point Sir Simon warned: 'For me, look, you should always plan for the worst' but insisted there was a still a small window to turn things around despite the growing threat of China and Russia abroad. But in the short term he warns the Chancellor is caught between unsustainable debt mountain, political nervousness in Parliament from her own side as well as diminished power for any ministers to actually make change. Though he insisted he hates the 'dehumanising' phrase The Blob, the former boss of the civil service says critics have a point about a system that stifles reform. He said: 'I do understand that there is this kind of faceless sort of set of organisations that seems to be holding power, and no matter what you want to do, there's a million reasons… 'Fundamentally, we have a system of government that's developed largely over the last 200 years into what I think of as lowest common denominator political thinking. Everybody has an equal say. You come up with an idea and it gets sandpapered away by all of these… And then you're just kind of left with this thing… and you think, that doesn't really look a lot like what I originally said.' But he warns politicians only have themselves to blame for years of political game playing on both sides that as seen power given away to ever increasingly powerful bureaucrats. He hit out: 'I think a lot of politicians think they're going to be elected or on a platform of change. That's exactly what this government did… And then you come into power and you realise that over the last, actually probably now about 40 years, it's amazing how much power elected politicians have given away in all sorts of different ways.' He added: 'We've got to that point that, you know, people are fighting hard to get to the top of the tree, to become prime ministers, to become cabinet ministers, and they come round and they're saying, oh, we've given it all away… And you realise everything is a really long, slow, painful negotiation.' Appearing on the Sun's Never Mind the Ballots show in a stunning broadside against the machine he previous ran, Sir Simon blasts the formation of the Office of Budget Responsibility as a typical example that binds in politicians from the radical and sweeping changes that need to be done. He says there were people in power now that 'spotted really quickly that the way we govern ourselves isn't right… The OBR was a really interesting one.' Blaming both Labour and Tories, he said: 'Over and over, over and over again, politicians are reacting often to some issue or some scandal and saying, politicians can't be trusted, we should take more power away from politicians, so you can trust us because we're not going to wield power in the same way as the last lot. And that is a fundamental problem.' Asked if he pushed for the abolition of the controversial quango on when in government, Sir Simon added: 'I'm not going to go into what I said on the inside, but I'll tell you what I think. And you can draw your own conclusions. "You can't have elections where no matter who you vote for, you just keep getting the same answer.'
