Thank you to everyone who has got in touch about the Prime Minister’s recent announcement on immigration and the related White Paper. Many people have written to me to share their personal experiences, and I am always grateful for that.
I agree that this is a complex subject for us in Lewisham North. Our borough is very diverse and we have a proud history of welcoming refugees and immigrants, so much so that we became the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary. As the local MP, my caseworkers and I have also supported many hundreds of people with their immigration applications since I was first elected in 2015.
I am proud of both our local and national response to those fleeing conflict, such as in recent times those from Ukraine and Afghanistan, and I am confident that we will continue to offer help to those who need it. Under Labour, asylum decisions are already being processed quicker in order to clear the backlog. I also welcome the Government’s commitment to end the use of hotels as accommodation for asylum seekers.
However, the hard truth is that the Conservatives left our immigration system in a total mess. After promising to cut net migration, they let it quadruple to almost a million, with lower-skilled migration and visa abuse replacing the high-skilled migration the public was promised post-Brexit.
Migration is of course very important to the UK, and that’s why it needs to be properly controlled and managed to ensure the system is fair. Across the decades individuals have come to this country to build a better life and to contribute. We support that and want to ensure the immigration system is appropriately designed to support their contributions. However, we need to build proper controls into the system to ensure it is fair and that numbers come down from unsustainable levels.
In our 2024 manifesto, Labour promised to reduce net migration and introduce a proper points-based system that controls our borders, and stops migration being used as an alternative to skills and training at home. This is what the new White Paper aims to deliver.
It contains five key measures:
- It raises the skill level, so we can ensure we have skilled migrants coming to the UK who can make a positive contribution.
- It establishes new workforce strategies, so that key sectors (such as social care) have to prioritise UK skills and training over recruitment from abroad.
- It tackles student and graduate visa abuse, supporting genuine study whilst fixing loopholes that drive up numbers claiming asylum.
- It raises English language requirements to support integration.
- It reforms settlement and citizenship, to reward contribution more than time served.
As a Government whip I have a lot of opportunities to feed in my constituents’ views and do so whenever and wherever I can. I also frequently write to Ministers regarding constituent concerns, so please do let me know if you would like me to raise anything specific.
Thank you once again to everyone who has taken the time to get in touch. I can assure you that in Lewisham we will always welcome those fleeing violence and persecution in their own countries and protect the rights of all migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.