Early evening summary
Net migration to the UK hit a record high in 2023 of 906,000 in a period covering Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s premierships, revised estimates show. Commenting on the figures at a press conference, Keir Starmer said:
A failure on this scale isn’t just bad luck, it isn’t a global trend or taking your eye off the ball.
No – this a different order of failure. This happened by design, not accident.
Policies were reformed deliberately to liberalise immigration.
Brexit was used for that purpose to turn Britain into a one-nation experiment in open borders.
Global Britain – remember that slogan. That is what they meant. A policy with no support and which they then pretended wasn’t happening.
And now they want to wave it away with a simple “we got it wrong”.
Well that’s unforgivable. And mark my words - this government will turn the page.
Here’s a comment on Starmer’s language from Lewis Goodall from the News Agents podcast on Bluesky.
Starmer’s rhetoric on immigration in this presser is very striking. Casting the Conservative record in office as: “A one nation experiment in open borders.”
McSweeney’s fingerprints all over it. The direction of the govt will squarely be on more socially conservative, traditional Lab voters.
Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, has announced a review of local government funding.
Robert Jenrick, who resigned as a Conservative minister because he thought his government’s immigration policies were too liberal and who was runner up to Kemi Badenoch in the Tory leadership contest, has described today’s ONS figures as “a day of shame” for his party. He posted this on social media.
Today is a day of shame for the Conservative Party.
Our handling of immigration let the country down badly. The public are right to be furious.
Repairing the damage won’t be easy.
We will only begin to rebuild trust once we own up to our failures and fundamentally change.
