How Keir Starmer is playing into Nigel Farage's hands on immigration

This country cannot take another Brexit-style blow to its economy

Keir Starmer’s new immigration controls may be a response to rising support for Reform UK, which has continued apace since the general election, but the Prime Minister is falling into the same trap that is currently destroying the Conservatives.

Starmer argued high net migration had caused "incalculable" damage to British society and the UK risked becoming an “island of strangers”. However, his problem is that he is never going to out-Farage Nigel Farage himself.

Net migration was 728,000 in the year to mid-2024. If Labour reduces this by 100,000 or even 200,000, it will not make much of a dent in public perceptions.

READ MORE: Immigration crackdown a 'guillotine' on care sector that will see homes close, industry warns

Keir Starmer is leading Labour into the same immigration trap that is destroying the Conservative party (Picture: Benjamin Cremel/WPA pool) | Getty Images

Good reasons for immigration

By painting immigration in such a negative light, Starmer is effectively campaigning for Reform and creating a make-or-break problem for his government. Just like the Conservatives, Labour will almost certainly fail to make sufficient headway because there are good reasons for allowing high levels of legal migration.

Following Starmer’s announcement, Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry warned that “immigration policy is preventing businesses from accessing critical skills to deliver investment, putting at risk growth and jobs in the rest of their workforce”. And NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer said: "Social care and health leaders will be concerned about the risk that these proposed changes to immigration rules pose to vital social care provision.”

Labour’s plans will also have a disproportionately large impact on Scotland, where deaths significantly outnumber births. This will boost the arguments for Scotland to have its own immigration system, although this remains unlikely to happen.

Vacancy crises

About one in five of the UK workforce was born overseas. If Labour substantially reduces this source of staff, with no plan for how to replace them, there will be serious consequences.

The “incalculable” damage caused by immigration cannot be calculated because it is also intangible – it is a ‘feeling’. The damage caused by exacerbating vacancy crises in many sectors will be very real.

With pro-immigration politicians having seemingly fled the field, the business community needs to take a stand and explain to voters that this country cannot take another anti-business, Brexit-style blow to its economy.