Keir Starmer says UK will not have 'soft touch' on visa abuses as net migration hits 960,000

The Office for National Statistics says the drop in net migration in the 12 months to June 2024 was partly due to a rise in people emigrating from the UK, including students whose visas are ending, as ITV News' Amy Lewis reports

The prime minister says the UK will not be seen as a "soft touch" anymore as he plans to crack down on abuse of the visa system after the latest figures on migration were released today.

Net migration to the UK hit a record high in 2023, much higher than original estimates, but have been revised upwards by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) according to a report published on Thursday morning.

However, the ONS said net migration, the measure for the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country, had dropped by 20% over the 12 months to June 2024 and now stands at 728,000.

At a press conference on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer said the government will be publishing a white paper "imminently" to set out its plan to reduce immigration.

In addition to this, the prime minister said: "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. 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."

The revised net migration figures, covering the previous Conservative government’s administration's time in power, come as new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch admitted her party had failed on migration.

In a speech on Wednesday, she said there had been a “collective failure of political leaders from all parties over decades” to grasp migration, adding: “On behalf of the Conservative Party, it is right that I as the new leader accept responsibility, and say truthfully, we got this wrong.

“I more than understand the public anger on this issue. I share it.”

Describing the statistics as "horrendous", Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “Horrendous if you want to get a GP appointment, horrendous if you want to travel around Britain’s motorways, horrendous if you want your kids or grandkids to ever get a foot onto the housing ladder.“Horrendous in terms of producing very disjointed societies and communities. And you might have noticed, the quicker the population rises, the poorer the average family in Britain becomes.”

The ONS said that although remaining high by “historic standards”, net migration is “beginning to fall”.

The revisions are as a result of the ONS continuing to review its net migration figures, as more complete data becomes available, as well as improving how it estimates the migration behaviour of people arriving in the UK from outside the European Union.

ITV News' Amy Lewis explains the measures announced by Sir Kier Starmer in today's press conference on tackling immigration

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Better analysis of the number of people coming to the UK amid the conflict in Ukraine has also been taken into account.

Some 1.2 million people are estimated to have arrived in the UK in the year ending June 2024, while 479,000 are likely to have left.

This compares with 1.3 million who arrived in the UK in the year to June 2023 and 414,000 who left.

The drop in the overall level of net migration has been driven mainly by a fall in the number of dependents arriving in the UK on study visas from outside the EU.

At various dates in January 2024, the Conservative government implemented changes to the student visa route restricting the ability of most international students to bring family members.

A total of 1.05 million visas were issued in the year to September 2024 to people coming to the UK for work, study or family reasons, or through one of the government’s settlement schemes.

The figure is down by more than a quarter (26%) from nearly 1.43 million in the year to September 2023.

Separately, the numbers found the Home Office spending on asylum in the UK stood at £5.38 billion in 2023/24, up 36% from £3.95 billion in 2022/23 and the highest total since comparable data began in 2010/11.

The total covers all Home Office costs related to asylum, including direct cash support and accommodation, plus wider staffing and other migration and borders activity.

It does not include costs relating to the interception of migrants who travel to the UK across the English Channel in small boats.

The figure for 2023/24, £5.38 billion, is more than four times the equivalent figure for 2020/21 (£1.34 billion) and nearly 12 times the total a decade ago in 2013/14 (£0.45 billion).

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