What are Labour's plans for immigration law?

Immigration law was highly politicised under the last government. What lessons has the Labour government taken from how their predecessors fared, and how different will their approach be?

The King’s Speech on July 17 outlined the main primary legislation agenda for Labour’s first session in power after a 14-year hiatus.

Among a raft of legislation where driving economic growth and building are the focus, a Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill was trailed which would “modernise the asylum and immigration system.”

It would create “a new Border Security Command” with “enhanced counter terror powers” to tackle people smuggling gangs. The briefing notes published with the King’s Speech mention stronger investigation and search powers and tougher penalties on offences such as advertising the services of migrant smuggling groups and supplying the materials they need.

The UK will withdraw from the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda, which has not been an effective deterrent and will save over £100m in future payments to Rwanda.

The notes add that under the Illegal Migration Act, “the vast majority of those claiming asylum after arriving via small boat since March 2023 have been stuck in a backlog, eligible for accommodation with no realistic prospect of removal even for those from safe countries.”

Labour has vowed to restart processing asylum seekers, “ensuring fast-track returns for individuals coming from safe countries.” This should entail the new bill revoking the Illegal Migration Bill which has left what Labour describe as a “perma-backlog” of cases rendered inadmissible due to how they have arrived in the UK.

Whether Labour’s proposals to implement the infrastructure to fast-track returns with reciprocal agreements with European countries will work remains to be seen. In the past such removals to EU countries were subject to challenges and never amounted for large numbers.

The previous government refused to discuss reciprocal agreements with the whole of the EU, with individual EU nations reluctant to enter agreements that were not EU-wide. Whether Sir Keir Starmer will negotiate a return to the sort of agreement we had with the Dublin Regulations remains to be seen. But in recent months Ireland has received many asylum seekers from the UK keen to escape the chaos here, and reciprocal agreements tend to work both ways.

Also for all the tough talk here, as many organisations such as the Migration Observatory have pointed out, without exploring safe routes to seek asylum, there will always be demand for people smuggling.

Long-term immigration overhaul

There was no mention in the King’s Speech of the Labour manifesto promise to “reform the points-based immigration system so that it is fair and properly managed, with appropriate restrictions on visas, and by linking immigration and skills policy.” Even major overhauls of the UK Immigration Rules do not usually require primary legislation.

In press briefings before the election was called, Labour figures had intimated that they would ask the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to reexamine James Cleverly’s recent salary hikes which has left Skilled Worker visas and sponsoring partners/spouses on family visas largely an option open only for those earning above average salaries. These arbitrary hikes on top of increases in visa fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge have left the UK with one of the most expensive immigration systems in the world.

The Labour Manifesto vowed to “strengthen the Migration Advisory Committee, and establish a framework for joint working with skills bodies across the UK, the Industrial Strategy Council and the Department for Work and Pensions.” This suggests a return to evidence-based immigration policy changes compared to recent months, with the MAC holding customary consultations with calls for evidence from stakeholders and sectors affected by changes.

We may have to wait at least until the spring (when big Immigration Rules changes usually occur) for any big changes from the new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. The Daily Telegraph this week reported that with immigration falling from a post-pandemic peak in 2022, the new government would delay implementing major work immigration measures mentioned in the manifesto for another year.

Linking immigration to skills policy

King Charles unveiled a “Skills England Bill” in his address to Parliament. Skills England, Labour’s election manifesto explained, would be a body which would bring together local government, employers, unions and training providers to deliver the trained workforce necessary for the government’s industrial strategy.

“Skills England will formally work with the Migration Advisory Committee to make sure training in England accounts for the overall needs of the labour market,” the manifesto said, with promises of “linking immigration and skills policy” and ending “long-term reliance on overseas workers.”

How this would work in practice remains to be seen. The cost to employers of relying on overseas workers has risen greatly under the previous government. Work immigration is falling and yet there are gaping skills shortages for certain sectors that are hampering growth.

There are very few occupations left on the Immigration Salary List which replaced the Shortage Occupation List this year. The Shortage Occupation List had become a target for both the Conservative government and the Labour opposition as it allowed employers to pay sponsored staff filling skills shortages on the list 20 percent under the going rate.

In opposition, Labour framed a discount on the going rate as undercutting local wages, so now, in government, the party is unlikely to bring back such a discount for occupations with chronic skills shortages. “The days of a sector languishing endlessly on immigration shortage lists with no action to train up workers will come to an end,” their election manifesto insisted. “Labour will bring joined-up thinking, ensuring that migration to address skills shortages triggers a plan to upskill workers and improve working conditions in the UK.”

We may have to wait another year to find out what any of that means.

Revoking sponsor licences

The manifesto also hinted at measures to revoke the sponsor licence of employers who “abuse the visa system” or breach employment law, barring them from hiring workers from abroad.

This is unlikely to entail major changes as sponsor compliance obligations already include requirements to ensure employers comply with wider UK, don’t behave in a manner not conducive to the public good or abuse the work visa system.

To keep their licences employers should ensure they follow the Home Office’s guidance on licence compliance and management and that they keep up to date with changes. If in doubt, employers should seek legal advice and a regular audit of compliance systems never hurt.

Devolution

April’s salary threshold increases have meant employers sponsoring non-resident staff must pay salaries above the national average. This has clearly disproportionately hit organisations in parts of the UK with dwindling workforces and without the ability to pay London wages.

The Labour government is making regional devolution a priority to deliver growth across the UK. A totally separate immigration system for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland is unlikely. The MAC has pushed back on calls for regional differentiation in recent years, and the UK hasn’t had different going rates to sponsor workers in different areas for over a decade now.

However, the new Immigration Salary List currently allows occupations to have shortage discounts in one or more of the different nations and the MAC may well be asked to review local solutions for skills shortages holding back different parts of the UK and how immigration policy should pay a part.

While Labour’s election manifesto promised to reduce immigration, it’s worth noting that it shouldn’t be too hard to maintain a reduction in immigration already dropping from a post-pandemic peak largely fuelled by international students returning to in-person studies, Ukraine and Hong Kong humanitarian schemes and vacancies in the health and care sectors.

Measures to reduce legal migration introduced by the outgoing government appear to have further reduced net migration by discouraging international students, limiting visas for dependants and insisting on salaries above the national average to sponsor a partner or employee. Whether the Labour government will reverse or further tighten any of these immigration levers remains to be seen, but it has a blank slate as such changes are very unlikely to raise immigration to the unusually high numbers of 2022 or 2023.