Keir Starmer pledges to 'take back control' of Britain's borders as he unveils sweeping migration shake-up
12 May 2025, 08:47 | Updated: 12 May 2025, 09:25
Sir Keir Starmer promised net migration will fall by the end of this parliament as he outlined a slew of immigration changes.
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Migrants have been told they need to spend a decade in the UK before they can apply for citizenship and English language requirements will be increased for all routes into the UK, as ministers look to bring down net migration which reached 728,000 last year.
Speaking from Downing Street on Monday morning, the Prime Minister said promised migration will fall as he warned Britain could become an "island of strangers" without greater restrictions.
The PM revealed plans to link immigration status to education level, English-language ability and investment in the UK.
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Under the plans, skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.
Sir Keir said without controls on immigration, “we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together” as he slammed the Tories for running a "experiment" on open borders.
"The chaos of the previous government also changed the nature of immigration in this country," he said.
"Fewer people who make a strong economic contribution, more who work in parts of our economy that put downward pressure on wages.
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"So perhaps the biggest change in this White Paper is that we will finally honour what 'take back control meant' and begin to choose who comes here so that migration works for our national interest."
Labour's immigration shake-up at a glance
- Migrants and dependents must learn English
- Skills level raised to degree level
- Migrants must be here for 10 years before applying for citizenship
- Right to stay earned
- Visas linked to training in UK
He told reporters the plan “will finally take back control of our borders and close the book on a squalid chapter for our politics, our economy and our country”.
He added: “‘Take back control.’ Everyone knows that slogan, and everyone knows what it meant on immigration, or at least that’s what people thought.
“Because what followed from the previous government, starting with the people who used that slogan, was the complete opposite.
“Between 2019 and 2023, even as they were going round our country, telling people with a straight face that they would get immigration down, net migration quadrupled, until in 2023 it reached nearly one million.
“That’s about the population of Birmingham, our second largest city. That’s not control. It’s chaos.”
The Tories ran an immigration system that relied on cheap foreign labour instead of investing in British workers.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 12, 2025
That betrayal ends now.
Watch my announcement live from 8:30am as I set out how Labour is delivering on our manifesto promise.
He added: "We talked last week about the great rebuilding of this country after the war.
"Migrants were part of that and they make a massive contribution today. And you will never hear me denigrate that.
"But when people come to our country, they should also commit to integration, to learning our language. And our system should actively distinguish between those that do and those that don't. I think that's fair."
When pressed on how Britain will fill the job gaps caused by lower migration, Sir Keir said: "If you can work, you should."
“I’m promising it (net migration) will fall significantly, and I do want to get it down by the end of this Parliament, significantly.
“That is what this plan is intended to achieve.
“This White Paper, these plans bring it back into control, make sure it’s controlled, that it’s selective, that we decide who comes to this country, and that it is fair, and that’s what we will do.
“Significant reduction in immigration and, as I’ve indicated, if it becomes necessary to take further measures, then that’s what we will do.”
Starmer pinned the rise in immigration on the previous government, accusing the Tories of running an "experiment" on open borders.
Speaking at a press conference in Westminster, he said of the rise in immigration under the previous government: “It was a choice, a choice made even as they told you, told the country, they were doing the opposite.
"A One Nation experiment in open borders conducted on a country that voted for control.
“Well, no more.
“Today, this Labour Government is shutting down the lab. The experiment is over.”
