PEOPLE are rightly angry about record numbers of migrants coming to our country.
Brexit was meant to bring control of our borders and the points-based immigration system was supposed to keep numbers low.
But too often politicians have not been willing to take the hard decisions to deliver on those promises.
Instead of coming down, net migration has got higher and higher.
Enough is enough — it’s time to get control of immigration once and for all.
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This is not about our generosity or openness as a country.
The British people are among the most welcoming in the world.
We need doctors, nurses and care workers in the NHS and social care.
And it is this Government that has introduced a long-term plan to train British people to fill those roles.
But, in the meantime, we’re grateful for people from around the world coming here to help.
‘Abuse of our system’
Britain also has a proud tradition of providing shelter for refugees.
We’ve welcomed with open arms people fleeing the war in Ukraine or persecution in Hong Kong.
But that cannot come at the cost of not controlling our borders.
Huge numbers of migrants are not fleeing persecution or war.
Many are not coming here to work in the jobs our country needs.
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We are seeing rising numbers of overseas students and care workers, who often bring their families — and there is far too much abuse of our system.
That is simply not fair on the honest, hard-working British people.
It is undercutting British workers because firms can hire foreign workers for cut-price wages. It is putting pressure on demand for housing. It is stretching public services like the NHS. It is costing the British taxpayer through higher welfare bills.
In other words, there are just too many people migrating to the UK.
So we’ve launched a new plan to cut migration, with a simple message.
If you can’t contribute to the UK, you are not coming to the UK.
Our plan will deliver the biggest-ever cut in net migration and curb abuse.
And it finally gives us the proper points-based system that was promised after Brexit.
First, overseas care workers will be stopped from bringing family members to the UK.
And any care firms who want to recruit migrants must be registered with the authorities. No more bogus care firms.
Second, we are going to stop immigration undercutting British workers.
From now on, migrants wanting to come to the UK on skilled worker visas must earn at least £38,700 — the average UK wage for similar jobs.
That will cut low-paid migration and encourage firms to hire and train workers who are already here. Even then, in some specific jobs which are seeing staff shortages, businesses can still pay foreign workers 20 per cent less than the going rate here at home.
There’s no good reason for that. It leads to cut-price labour from overseas.
And paying people less is the wrong response to a labour shortage.
So the third part of our plan is to end the going-rate discount for foreign workers in shortage roles.
Fourth, we are changing the rules so that people who want to bring their family to the UK must earn at least £38,700 a year.
That way we will know they can support their family and they won’t be a burden on the NHS or our benefits system.
And finally, from next month, we are banning students from bringing family members to the UK unless they are on postgraduate research degrees.
‘End merry-go-round’
This all but closes a route that saw 150,000 people come here last year alone.
Altogether, our five-point plan means that 300,000 people like those who came to the UK last year will no longer be able to come.
But all of this is about people coming here legally. What about those who are coming here illegally, crossing the Channel on small boats?
The good news is that our actions have already cut the numbers by a third.
But we’ve got to do more.
People looking at this country have got to know that if they come here illegally, they will be detained and swiftly removed to a safe country.
I’m fed up with our Rwanda policy being blocked.
I’ve got the Government working on emergency laws to end the merry-go-round so that we can fix this problem once and for all — and stop the boats.
