Rishi Sunak has pledged to introduce an annual cap on work and family visas if the Conservatives retain power in the general election next month.
The prime minister said he would introduce an “immigration lock” to ensure net migration is brought back to a sustainable level after it reached an all-time high of 764,000 in 2022.
He said there would be an annual vote among MPs to determine the number of work and family visas to be granted in the UK each year. The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the government’s independent adviser on immigration policy, would then assess whether the proposed cap is viable.
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Sunak proposed that the cap be lowered yearly over the next parliament to bring net migration down.
The cap would only apply to work and family visas, which made up around half of the 1.3 million visas issued in the year to March 2024.
Reports have suggested that the cap would be broken into monthly allocations, with sectors such as health and care given a specific quota. Other sectors suffering shortages would also be prioritised, while regional migration demands would be considered.
Sunak said: “We have taken bold action to cut the number of people coming to this country. The plan is working but migration levels are still too high, so we are going further.
“The Conservatives are the only party that is willing take the bold action needed to cut immigration figures.”
However, the Conservative Party has failed to deliver on its 2010 election campaign pledge to reduce migration levels.
Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said the pledge was a “meaningless announcement from a Tory party which has trebled net migration since the last election despite promising to bring it down”.
“All they are doing now is rehashing failed announcements from David Cameron and Theresa May, while doing nothing to tackle the skills shortages and their failures in the economy and immigration system which have pushed net migration up,” she said.
Labour said it would require different parts of the government to draw up “skills improvement plans” for various areas of the economy to reduce reliance on foreign workers. However, it has refused to set a target to reduce migration.
Louise Haycock, a partner at immigration law firm Fragomen, said: “It is concerning that despite the repeated feedback from business about the need for a stable immigration system, the Conservative party has stated they would bring in a cap on immigration. We have been here before. It was clunky, slow and impacted those with lower salaries regardless of the need for workers in those categories.
“Whilst it is sensible to include the MAC and to look at need before deciding on figures, it is a shame that we haven’t learned from previous failed policies. This is simply designed to appeal to those sceptical on immigration and not to serve the needs of the economy.”
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage, the new leader of Reform UK has said that the UK should aim for “zero” net migration. He told the BBC that considering the number of people leaving the UK on a yearly basis, there would still be room for 600,000 people coming to the UK, which is “plenty” for the labour market.
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