Conservatives Propose Annual Cap on Visas to Cut Immigration

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Teesside celebrating with Lord Ben Houchen following his reelection as Tees Valley mayor, on May 3, 2024. (Owen Humphreys/PA)

The Conservative Party has pledged to put an annual cap on work and family visas to cut immigration, if it wins the July 4 election.

Proposals revealed on Monday would see MPs vote on the number of people to be allowed annually into the country, with the party saying it aims for levels to fall year-on-year over the next Parliament.

Temporary immigration routes, such as for seasonal agricultural workers, would not be affected by the cap.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We have taken bold action to cut the number of people coming to this country. The plan is working but migration levels are still too high, so we are going further.”

Mr. Sunak also criticised Labour’s “migrant amnesty,“ which he said would ”make the UK a global magnet for illegal immigrants.“ He said Labour has ”no plan to reduce net migration, while we have a clear plan to stop the boats and put a legal cap on numbers.”

The announcement comes weeks after the Office for National Statistics released figures showing net immigration decreased by 10 percent to 685,000 after having hit a record high of 764,000 in 2022.

Cap Recommended by Migration Advisory Committee

Under the proposals, ministers would ask the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), an independent body that advises the government on immigration, to recommend an annual level which the government would then put to Parliament for a vote.

The MAC would derive the cap after consulting with businesses, public services, local authorities, and the NHS. The MAC would also be instructed to consider the government’s objectives to bring down immigration.

When asked why the Conservatives have not put a number on the cap in visas, Home Secretary James Cleverly told “BBC Breakfast” that while legal immigration “has been too high over the last couple of years,” there are “benefits to migration.”

Mr. Cleverly continued that assigning the MAC the responsibility of assessing the costs and benefits “will make sure we properly balance both the numbers of people coming here and the benefit they bring, but also the cost, whether it’s school places, housing demand, health places, etc.”

The MAC recently advised the government to keep the Graduate visa route, after Mr. Cleverly ordered a review into the pathway to check for potential visa exploitation.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the proposed cap was a “meaningless announcement from a Tory party which has trebled net migration since the last election despite promising to bring it down.”

Fixing ‘Skills Gap’ Will Bring Down Immigration: Labour

On Sunday, Ms. Cooper said her party’s immigration reforms would fix the “broken” system and that the party would fill the skills gap with homegrown talent.

The shadow home secretary, who was meeting apprentices from gas distribution company SGN in London, said that the tripling of net immigration in the last five years had “been particularly driven by the big increase in work migration and in work visas.”

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper speaks to the media outside BBC Broadcasting House in London on June 2, 2024. (Lucy North/PA)

She said: “And we’ve just been talking to engineering apprentices—engineering apprenticeships have halved at the same time as visas have doubled. That shows you’ve got a system that’s broken.

“That’s why Labour’s setting out a practical plan to make sure that overseas recruitment is actually linked instead to the kind of training and the workforce plans that are needed; that will bring net migration down.”

Later speaking to Channel 4, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said Labour intended to reform the apprenticeship levy, giving more training opportunities to young people and adult leaders. Ms. Phillipson said the measures were needed because “we can’t be so dependent on immigration as a means of tackling the skills gap that we see in the economy.”

‘Hire Brits First’

On Sunday, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer vowed to cut net immigration, but would not commit to a level.

Sir Keir said that Labour would make sure that British businesses are supported to hire British workers first, adding that he would make sectors which apply for foreign work visas train British workers first to do the jobs they needed.

He also said he will “ban bad bosses”—like those who breach labour market rules, including underpaying employees—from recruiting overseas workers.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks during a visit to Dover, Kent, to set out his party's plans to tackle the small boats crisis on May 10, 2024. (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Legal and illegal immigration became prominent policy topics even before Mr. Sunak called the general election late last month.

Mr. Sunak had made his plan of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda central to stopping illegal immigration. Sir Keir indicated on May 10 he would scrap the Rwanda plan, saying the UK’s asylum system “must be rebuilt” and borders “must be secured.”

The Labour leader proposed creating a new multi-agency Border Security Command to tackle people smuggling gangs bringing illegal immigrants across the channel.

The Border Security Command would be supported by hundreds of police officers, intelligence agents, and specialist investigators from agencies including MI5, the National Crime Agency, and Border Force.

Figures released in May revealed that since 2018, more than 117,000 illegal immigrants had entered the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats alone.

PA Media contributed to this report.