Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to the impact of today’s net migration figures for people in Watford, said:
“These figures show the total Tory chaos and failure on immigration as net migration has more than trebled since Rishi Sunak and his party promised to get it down at the last election.
“14 years of Conservative failure on both the economy and immigration has led to around a 50 per cent increase in work migration in the last year alone because they have disastrously failed to tackle skills shortages.
“The Tories can’t even manage to clean up their own chaos and people in [INSERT PLACE] want change.
“Labour will bring in proper plans to link the points-based immigration system with boosting skills here at home.
“This general election is a choice – more chaos with the Conservatives, or a Labour government that can fix the chaos and get a grip on the immigration and asylum system again. It’s time to turn the page on Tory chaos and deliver real change with Labour.”
Ends.
Notes:
• New ONS estimates of long-term net migration (year ending December 2023) and Home Office immigration and asylum statistics (year ending March 2024) were published today:
o Long-term international migration, provisional – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
o Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2024 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
o Irregular migration to the UK, year ending March 2024 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• These statistics show:
o Net migration has more than trebled since the 2019 election to 685,000 in 2023
o Net migration for work has increased from 277,000 to 423,000
o Work visas granted to main applicants have increased by 130% compared to 2019.