British prime minister Keir Starmer accused his predecessors of intentionally designing a “one-nation experiment in open borders” after the latest statistics revealed that more than 900,000 migrants entered the U.K. last year.
The Labour Party leader laid the blame on the Conservative Party for the record-high numbers, claiming the opposition failed Brexit voters on its vow to curtail illegal immigration. Brexit, which authorized the U.K.’s exit from the European Union, narrowly passed in June 2016 and formally took effect in January 2020.
“Time and again the Conservative Party promised they would get the numbers down. Time and again they failed, and now the chorus of excuses has begun,” Starmer said Thursday on Downing Street, referring to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s admission that her party had failed Great Britain on immigration.
“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 is a different order of failure,” the prime minister continued.
“This happened by design, not accident. Policies were reformed deliberately to liberalize immigration. Brexit was used for that purpose, to turn Britain into a one-nation experiment in open borders.”
Following Brexit, net migration reached a previous peak of 764,000 in 2022. In 2015, before the referendum passed, net migration totaled to no more than 333,000. The latest immigration numbers are higher than previously thought.
Coinciding with Starmer’s speech, newly released figures show upwards of 906,000 net migrants entered the country as of June 2023. The initial estimate was 740,000. Between June 2023 and June 2024, the data showed a 20 percent drop to 728,000 migrants.
The country’s asylum system costs 5 billion pounds per year, representing the highest level of spending on record.
Starmer described the figures as “shocking” and outlined a plan for reform of the post-Brexit immigration system, including tougher restrictions on businesses that hire foreign workers over British citizens. He warned businesses that do not “play ball” with the requirement will be banned from hiring employees overseas.
The Labour prime minister, who describes himself as a socialist and progressive, has become increasingly unpopular among his constituents. Since his landslide election victory in July, the politician has dropped 49 points in a U.K. poll.
His low approval ratings have even prompted the creation of a viral petition calling for a new general election. The petition has garnered nearly 3 million signatures in the week since it’s been open. Parliament will debate the petition on January 6. The government must issue a written response because the petition racked over 10,000 signatures.
Despite his growing unpopularity, Starmer received praise from an ideologically opposed colleague for speaking about the immigration crisis candidly.
“Starmer referring to uncontrolled mass immigration as an ‘open borders experiment’ is remarkable language, for a man of his politics,” Reform U.K. member of parliament Rupert Lowe said Saturday. “He chose those words VERY carefully, he is not stupid. Political winds are blowing very firmly in one direction. The British have had enough.”
Meanwhile, Conservative Party members are taking Starmer to task over his resistance to their and Reform U.K.’s calls for the institution of a migration cap.
“Keir Starmer has no credibility on this issue. He has ruled out a legal migration cap, and since he became prime minister, Channel boat crossings are up 23 per cent. And we learnt today that 6,000 more asylum seekers are in hotels – despite Starmer’s promise to end hotel use,” said shadow home secretary Chris Philp.
“We know the numbers are too high, and that is why Kemi Badenoch has set out that under her leadership, we will learn from past mistakes and adopt a new approach to lower immigration,” he added. “This means a strict cap on numbers, making citizenship a privilege not a right, zero tolerance for foreign criminals, and an effective legal deterrent for illegal migration.”
Nigel Farage, the leader of the Reform U.K. party, blasted both Labours and Tories for not doing enough to bring down the net-migration figures and asylum costs in the past few years.
Farage called the figures “horrendous” and claimed the immigration influx is making British families poorer. While predicting the Tories won’t be “forgiven” in the coming years, Farage said the Labours were “even worse” on the issue after Starmer inherited the problem from Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak.