Britain’s Labour Party has called for a fairer immigration system, which created a level-playing field for those from within the EU and outside it, and in which people weren’t discriminated against “based on the skin colour of the majority of the population.”
In a speech on Wednesday, Diane Abbott, the party’s spokesperson on Home Affairs, outlined the party’s future vision for Britain’s immigration regime, which she insisted would end the demonisation of migrants and migration, and put “growth, jobs and prosperity before bogus immigration targets,” contrasting it with the government’s policy which was a “permanent anti-migrant campaign”.
“The government says it wants a level-playing field for all migrants post Brexit... but the clear indications are that the government wants the lowest common denominator to be the basis for equal treatment... we don’t want to play that lowest common denominator game,” she said. “We want a more equal and respected status for all migrants,” she said.
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Rules on reunion
She reiterated the party’s commitment to taking international students out of the government’s net migration figures, an issue that has been also taken up by members of the Conservative Party and even members of the Cabinet, with little success. She also pledged to change the rules on reunion for refugee families, enabling those given leave to stay in Britain to be joined by parents or guardians.
In a move likely to appeal to Britain’s large South Asian diaspora, she also pledged to tackle the “thousands of pounds” of processing fees charged to families, only to deny them a visa. The party would also end a system under which applications were rejected because one box hadn’t been ticked, resulting in the applicant being sent to the back of the queue.
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Ms. Abbott also launched an attack on the government’s net migration target, which she argued put jobs and prosperity at stake. “What we can do as politicians is set a framework for who we accept and who we reject... that framework must be set first not with overall numbers in mind but with a focus on growth, jobs and prosperity,” she said.
The government’s immigration regime has come under increased scrutiny, after it emerged that a monthly cap on Tier 2 visas (part of a wider system of controls to help the government meet its ambitions of reducing net immigration) has been repeatedly hit, in the past couple of months, leaving some NHS trusts and hospitals unable to recruit the talent they need from outside the EUamid a staffing crisis, and an exodus of EU citizens.
“We are currently turning away doctors and nurses from outside the EU, because the government has already met its monthly targets for work visa applications,” warned Ms. Abbott.
However, she insisted that while Britain needed “migrants and migration”, the costs of immigration had to be recognised too, including the pressures on public services, and the party would introduce measures including an end of “overseas only recruitment” and a Migration Impact Fund that would provide assistance to areas where services were under strain.
The speech was welcomed by refugee groups, for its pledges around the ending of indefinite detention and family reunion, while immigrant rights campaign groups welcomed its broader message. “The speech... reflected what campaigners have been arguing for years... that our immigration and asylum system should be evidence-led, compassionate, fair and based on the rule of law,” said Satbir Singh, Chief Executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
“The Home secretary has chosen an approach to immigration which splits up families, hobbles efforts at community integration and stops our NHS from hiring the skilled staff it needs.”