Policy Exchange’s response to the Government’s immigration White Paper

Policy Exchange’s Head of Home Affairs, Stephen Webb, and Head of Demography, Immigration & Integration, David Goodhart, react to the immigration White Paper:

Stephen Webb, Head of Home Affairs at Policy Exchange:

“The announced tightening in immigration rules today in some areas is to be welcomed.  But in many cases, including the salary threshold, restrictions on the graduate work visa and curtailing applications for care visas for candidates outside the UK, the actual changes are due to take place some time in the next year.  

“Policy Exchange showed in our recent report ‘Why is it so hard getting immigration numbers down?‘ how the Home Office is routinely outgunned by almost every other Government department urging more migration in their areas and the Prime Minister needs to stand his ground and land these changes now – rather than let them be diluted by officials and ministers across Whitehall.”

David Goodhart, Head of Demography, Immigration & Integration at Policy Exchange: 

“It is a good to see a centre-left government finally accepting most of the arguments that mass immigration sceptics have been making for a couple of decades: the pace of change is too fast, the economic benefit has been over-estimated, the pressure on public services and infrastructure under-estimated, too many visa routes are being abused, many of the benefits of immigration have been privatised while the costs are nationalised. 

“And there is some welcome movement towards greater restriction in the white paper: the end to international recruitment in social care (though with no corresponding moves to make care more attractive to UK nationals); the small reduction in the two year post-study work route to 18 months and a levy on the income international student income; and, as I called for in my report for Policy Exchange two years ago, ‘Compassionate but Controlled‘, the extension of the qualification period to apply to stay in the country permanently; though it is riddled with loopholes.”

“Credit where it is due: Labour has had to challenge two of its core constituencies, universities and the public health/care system, and we will hear plenty of loud complaints from both over the coming weeks. Yet overall these are only modest changes that will give some extra impetus to the decline that began after the last Government’s hand-brake turn. They will allow Labour to claim it has reduced numbers by half in a couple of years time but are unlikely to be enough to win back many Reform voters. 

“The two major drivers of immigration in recent years – students and health/social care workers – are the result of wanting both higher education and a decent health/care system on the cheap. Reducing the country’s immigration addiction depends on wider connected reforms to those two sectors, including a significant shrinkage of the bloated higher education system. 

“To significantly reduce immigration while minimising the economic damage requires a long-term, and ideally cross-party, plan. Our adversarial politics has, alas, ruled out the latter with tiresome claims from Labour about the Conservatives deliberately opening the door to much higher immigration while at the same borrowing many of their ideas and policies.”