Coachload of newly arrived Channel migrants mock Starmer’s immigration crackdown: On the same day he vowed to ‘take back control’ and stop UK becoming ‘island of strangers’
More Channel boat arrivals were brought ashore today as Keir Starmer launched his latest bid to ‘take back control’ of Britain’s borders.
Amid calm conditions at sea, two Border Force vessels transferred groups to the Port of Dover in Kent.
Jubilant men were pictured leaving by coach after going through the immigration processing centre at the Western Docks.
It comes after about 200 migrants made the treacherous crossing yesterday, although official figures have not yet been released by the Government.
As the events were unfolding in Kent, the PM was giving a speech in Downing Street condemning the scale of illegal and legal immigration in recent years.
He admitted the sheer numbers and scale of abuses of the rules – plus the failure of politicians to make good on promises to tackle the issues – risked ‘pulling the country apart’.
As he scrambles to head off a poll surge by Reform, Sir Keir pledged to end the ‘betrayal’ of reliance on cheap foreign labour, saying degree-level qualifications should be needed for visas.
But Home Office documents suggested that the package will only cut legal arrivals by around 100,000 a year. Net migration has been running at more than 700,000 annually.
Nigel Farage dismissed the PM’s moves as ‘insincere’ saying there will still be ‘loopholes’.
‘We are controlling the narrative. In terms of the rhetoric, it is follow my leader. They are following Reform on all of this,’ he told GB News.
‘But do they have the will to drive any of this through? I very much doubt it.’
People believed to be migrants have been seen in buses in Dover after Channel crossings
Groups were escorted up the gangway in Dover today wearing orange lifejackets
The latest arrivals come on the same day Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer spoke at Downing Street vowing a new crackdown on immigration
The White Paper today laid out plans for curbing legal migration, although Sir Keir spoke about borders more widely.
The government said it will ‘set out further reforms to the asylum system and to border security in response to irregular and illegal migration’ later this year, on top of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently going through Parliament.
Sir Keir accused the Tories of overseeing an explosion in numbers while in power, saying the system seemed ‘designed to permit abuse’ and was ‘contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart’.
He said he would give Brits what they had ‘asked for time and time again’ and ‘significantly’ reduce eye-watering immigration that has been inflicting ‘incalculable damage’.
In a pivotal moment, he also rejected the Treasury orthodoxy that high immigration drives growth – pointing out the economy has stagnated in recent years.
Under the blueprint, skills thresholds will be hiked and rules on fluency in English toughened.
Migrants will also be required to wait 10 years for citizenship rather than the current five, and face deportation for even lower-level crimes.
However, doubts have been raised about whether the White Paper proposals will have a big enough impact – as it does not include any targets or the hard annual cap being demanded by critics.
Sir Keir underlined his determination that the changes will mean ‘migration numbers fall’ but added: ‘If we do need to take further steps… then mark my words we will.’
He refused to guarantee that net migration will fall every year from now, saying: ‘I do want to get it down by the end of this Parliament significantly.’
The premier said: ‘Let me put it this way, nations depend on rules, fair rules.
‘Sometimes they’re written down, often they’re not, but either way, they give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other.
‘Now in a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more important.
‘Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.’
The ECHR and its Article 8 right to family life have been notably used by asylum seekers and foreign criminals to avoid deportation.
The White Paper promised legislation to ‘strengthen the public interest test to make it clear that Parliament needs to be able to control our country’s borders and take back control over who comes to, and stays in the UK’.
Asked at a press conference if going further on immigration would require ‘disentangling ourselves’ from the ECHR, Sir Keir said: ‘No, I don’t think that that is necessary.
‘I also remind myself that the international agreements we’ve signed have given us the basis for the deals that we’ve struck on illegal migration.
‘So the Home Secretary has moved fast, working with other countries to put in place materially improved deals with other countries in relation to migration that would not have been possible if we had been saying at the same time we’re about to withdraw from our international obligations.
‘You can’t strike those deals with other countries to work more closely together on law enforcement, to smash the gangs and to work on returns agreements – which is what we want to do – if in the next breath, you’ll say you don’t believe in international law.’
On Saturday 58 people in one boat were intercepted in the middle of the Dover Straits, according to the Home Office – the first to arrive in a week due to windy conditions at sea.
That took the number so far this month to 500 in 11 boats and 11,576 in 210 dinghies so far in 2025.
On what is expected to be a busy day due to calm conditions at sea, two Border Force vessels brought in groups of suspected migrants into the Port of Dover in Kent
Migrants are seen being brought into port on board a Border Force vessel today in Dover, Kent
In his Westminster speech this morning, Sir Keir insisted the new proposals would mean ‘migration numbers fall’, adding: ‘If we do need to take further steps then, mark my words, we will.’
He refused to guarantee that net migration will fall every year from now, saying: ‘I do want to get it down by the end of this Parliament significantly.’
He went on to say: ‘Let me put it this way, nations depend on rules, fair rules.
‘Sometimes they’re written down, often they’re not, but either way, they give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other.
‘Now in a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more important.
‘Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.’
Home Office aides are said to fear that without deep-rooted reforms, annual net migration will settle even higher than the 340,000 level projected by the Office for National Statistics.
There are concerns it will end up closer to 525,000 by 2028 – when the country will be preparing for a general election – because migrants are staying for longer than previously thought. The rate stood at 728,000 in the year to June last year.
Sir Keir Starmer today warned mass immigration risks making Britain an ‘island of strangers’
However, the Treasury has been resisting the most dramatic steps for fear of further damaging the ailing economy.
Sir Keir promised 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 1million.
‘That’s about the population of Birmingham, our second largest city. That’s not control – it’s chaos.’
Sir Keir said the country had been suffering under a ‘system that encourages businesses to bring in lower-paid workers, rather than invest in our young people’.
He added: ‘That is the Britain this broken system has created. Every area of the immigration system, including work, family and study, will be tightened up so we have more control. Enforcement will be tougher than ever and migration numbers will fall’.
Among those in the audience for the PM’s speech today was Home Secretary Yvette Cooper
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‘This is a clean break from the past and will ensure settlement in this country is a privilege that must be earned, not a right.
‘And when people come to our country, they should also commit to integration and to learning our language. Lower net migration, higher skills and backing British workers – that is what this White Paper will deliver.’
Sir Keir said the problems risked making Britain ‘an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together’.
He said: ‘So when you have an immigration system that seems almost designed to permit abuse, that encourages some businesses to bring in lower paid workers rather than invest in our young people, or simply one that is sold by politicians to the British people on an entirely false premise, then you are not championing growth.
‘You are not championing justice or however else people defend the status quo. You’re actually contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart.’
Under today’s proposals, migrants will be required to spend a decade in the UK before they can apply for citizenship and will need to have a good grasp of English.
The White Paper will also attempt to end the scandal of failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals using human rights laws to block deportation.
Ministers are expected to change the law to constrain judges’ interpretation of elements of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The latest migrant arrivals today in Dover (pictured) coincided with new Government plans
The PM has insisted the government would be ‘investing in British workers’
The Home Office estimates that the package will bring down annual inflows by around 100,000
They will target Article 8, which protects the right to a family life and is often used by lawyers to block removal on spurious reasoning.
However, ministers faced a backlash from the care sector yesterday, with a warning of possible collapse, after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she would ban recruiting from overseas, while demanding companies train British workers.
Ms Cooper said the dedicated care worker visa will be ended, insisting firms can no longer rely on ‘recruiting from abroad’.
That measure together with returning the skills thresholds for work visas to degree level will cut visa numbers by 50,000 a year, she suggested.
Employers will be encouraged to ‘develop domestic training plans to boost British skills and recruitment levels’ instead.
Alongside legal migration, the government is also facing a massive challenge on Channel boats.
More than 11,500 people have made the perilous crossing this year – a record level.
The number of people claiming asylum climbed from 91,811 in 2023 to a new high of 108,138 last year.
A Home Office assessment has highlighted the lack of English among low-skilled migrants, and the surge in immigrant workers in health and social care
Today’s announcement comes less than a fortnight after Reform UK surged to victory in local council elections across England, a result that deputy leader Richard Tice attributed to frustrations about the immigration system.
Reacting to Sir Keir’s speech, Mr Tice questioned whether the Prime Minister would ‘actually deliver’ – telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘There’s no target, no number that can be measured against.’
The Conservatives have said the Prime Minister is ‘trying to take credit for recent substantial reductions in visa numbers that resulted from Conservative reforms in April 2024’.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
‘The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
‘That is why this government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage.
‘Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in Northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders.’
