UK risks becoming 'island of strangers'? Prime Minister Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer said the UK risked becoming an ‘island of strangers’ as he unveiled an immigration crackdown including plans to cut overseas care workers and tighten English language requirements.
In a Downing Street speech, the prime minister said the Labour government would ‘take back control of our borders’ and close the book on a ‘squalid chapter’ for politics and the economy.
Ministers are looking to bring down net migration figures, which stood at 728,000 in the year to mid-2024.
Starmer said tougher restrictions were needed, warning that Britain risked becoming ‘an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together’.
He said: ‘So when you have an immigration system that seems almost designed to permit abuse, that encourages some businesses to bring in lower paid workers rather than invest in our young people, or simply one that is sold by politicians to the British people on an entirely false premise, then you are not championing growth.
‘You are not championing justice or however else people defend the status quo. You’re actually contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart.’
By Nina Lloyd and Caitlin Doherty
Press Association: News
source: PA
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