Responding to the Government’s new Immigration White Paper, CPS Research Director Karl Williams said:
‘The publication of today’s Immigration White Paper shows that the Labour Party has, finally, accepted the arguments put forward by the Centre for Policy Studies and others that migration is not an unmitigated economic good, that various visa routes such as the social care visa and the Graduate visa are too readily abused, and that data around the impact of migration is woefully inadequate and needs significant overhaul.
‘However, the measures proposed fall some way short of those actually required to get migration down to the kind of levels which the public would be happy with.
‘For example, cutting the time someone can stay in the UK on a Graduate visa from 24 months to 18 months will do nothing to address the problem of those using student and graduate visas to access the country with the primary intent to work, not to study, and then switching to other routes to extend their stay.
‘The Government has also acknowledged the enormous increase in family visas and difficulties in deported foreign offenders back to their home countries, yet the White Paper takes no decisive action on either issue – simply kicking the can down the road until at least the end of the year.
‘Ultimately the government has refused to commit to a numerical level of net migration. Our report ‘Taking Back Control’ proposed an annual migration cap, set by Parliament, with limits for each specific visa route. This would give democratic legitimacy to the immigration system and reassure the public. It is disappointing that the Government have so far refused to consider this option.’
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Karl Williams is Research Director at the Centre for Policy Studies and author of several reports on immigration including ‘Here To Stay? Estimating the Scale and Cost of Long-Term Migration’, ‘Taking Back Control’, co-authored with Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP and Neil O’Brien MP, and ‘Stopping the Crossings’, co-authored with Nick Timothy MP
- For further information and media requests please contact Emma Revell on 07931 698246 and [email protected] or Melisa Tourt on 07399 251110 and [email protected]
- The Centre for Policy Studies is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in Westminster. With a focus on taxation, economic growth, housing, immigration, and energy abundance, its goal is to develop policies that widen enterprise, ownership and opportunity.
Date Added: Monday 12th May 2025
