DEMANDS to get tougher on borders intensified today despite net migration halving to 431,000.
Visa numbers last year were cut from a monster 860,000 in 2023 largely following measures implemented by the previous Tory government.
Sir Keir Starmer’s is expected to trim that down by a further 100,000 once enforced.
But the figure – equivalent to growing the population by two cities the size of Southampton – sparked calls for more radical action.
Tory shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp doubled down calls for an .
Welcoming the drop, he said: “The figures are still far too high and need to go down a lot further.
“That’s why we’ve proposed a binding annual immigration cap, set by Parliament at much lower levels.
He said the drop was thanks to the “tough action of the last Conservative government”;; and blasted Labour for “parading around pretending their inaction is success”;;.
Rishi Sunak banned care workers from bringing family members to Britain, and raised the salary requirement for skilled workers to £38,000.
Sir Keir last week added to that by for overseas care workers.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted today’s drop was in part due to deporting more foreign offenders and .
She said that more than 30,000 have been returned since Labour won the election – a 12 per cent increase – although refused to disclose how many were .
She said: “The 300,000 drop in since the election is important and welcome after the figures quadrupled to nearly a million in the last Parliament.
“Our Immigration White Paper sets out radical reforms to further reduce net migration.”;;
