Alongside a stronger economy, we need stronger borders and Kemi Badenoch set out a plan for a controlled and fair immigration system at the Conservative party conference. So it was interesting to see the latest proposals from the Home Secretary last week to bring down levels of immigration.
Oscar Wilde said “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” and the government’s plans certainly have copied some of our policies. For example, doubling the period before becoming eligible for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from five to ten years mirrors our proposal. Similarly, tightening access to benefits is part of the plan we set out in October.
In addition, the approach to require good character and contribution is effectively the net contributory principle Conservatives have championed – those who come to the UK should put in more than they take out.
As a serious opposition, we welcome the adoption of these ideas and will support them in Parliament to help deliver a fairer immigration system – even if some Labour MPs oppose them.
However, there are real gaps in the Government’s plans. There is no legally binding annual cap on migration numbers which is the only way to give Parliament control on behalf of the public – setting a target and being accountable for it.
And their plans would still allow people arriving illegally in the UK to remain and have a pathway to settlement. That cannot be right. It would simply encourage more people to take that perilous journey across the channel. Instead, our plans would mean detaining and removing them within a week of reaching our shores.
The glaring gap in their approach is a refusal to recognise that the ECHR will frustrate attempts to control our borders. I supported legislation in the last Parliament to try and limit its impact on immigration policies – but despite passing several bills the courts ultimately acted to frustrate policies of the elected government. This Labour government is planning to do the same thing - pass more laws and expect different results.
Of course, our record on immigration was one of the reasons we lost support and the last election. We have been honest about failing to properly control numbers. When we acted towards the end of the last government, the measures we introduced have led to significant falls in net migration. But that came too late and people were rightly frustrated at the high levels of immigration.
That recognition of where we went wrong is why we set out a borders plan based on tackling high levels of immigration and learning from our time in government. Ideas put forward by others of ripping up the Brexit deal and denying benefits from people with EU settled status are not serious – the last thing anyone wants is another protracted round of negotiations. These are reciprocal rights affecting British citizens across Europe. Would the EU give up those protections and ask for nothing in return? Non.
Where the government does the right thing we will support it in the national interest whether on immigration or other issues.
Alongside immigration, the biggest issue facing the country is the economy. Unlike our border plan, it seems unlikely that in the Budget the Chancellor will adopt our approach of controlling welfare and other spending. Instead, she seems hell bent on increasing taxes on working people and business again. We will certainly oppose that.
