The Labour Party is anticipated to unveil its strategy for addressing migration next week, as reports indicate that the number of individuals crossing the Channel under Sir Keir Starmer has reached a significant new threshold.
In the early hours of this morning, sources at Sky News disclosed that two small vessels were intercepted in the Channel, each carrying numerous migrants, bringing the total crossings since July to over 20,000.
This marks the first wave of crossings since November 16.
Prior to this, 19,988 crossings had been documented since Labour’s election victory on July 4.
The cumulative total for the year, excluding last night’s events, stands at 33,562, based on official statistics.
Government representative Pat McFadden informed Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that the UK “will always require migration,” yet this necessitates balancing with the development of the British labor force to ensure “you’re not overly dependent on immigration.”
He asserted that Labour would not impose net migration targets but will introduce a plan in the upcoming week aimed at decreasing both legal and illegal migration.
Pat McFadden stated that the government would not establish migration targets
The UK’s net migration—the difference between the number of individuals immigrating to and leaving the UK—was adjusted this week to 906,000 for the last year (the period up to June 2023), marking the highest recorded level.
The most recent data for the year leading up to June 2024 revealed that net migration had decreased by 20% from the preceding year, resulting in an estimated figure of 728,000.
“Numerical goals associated with migration have not fared well in recent times,” Mr. McFadden remarked.
“You might recall David Cameron expressing his desire to reduce it to the tens of thousands.”
He further stated: “Rest assured, the document we intend to publish will address both legal and illegal migration.”
“We have established a new, secure border command, as we committed to during the election.”
“We have finalized a new returns arrangement with Iraq, increased the number of returns, and released our Welfare To Work paper.”
Conservative shadow minister Victoria Atkins acknowledged this week that leader Kemi Badenoch had conceded that net migration levels were “excessively high” under the Conservative government.
However, she informed Trevor Phillips that the decline of 20% this year was attributable to their policies.
Ms. Atkins criticized Labour for lacking a cap on immigration, while admitting that the Conservatives do not yet possess a concrete plan for such a cap but would be presenting one soon.
