Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick declared: “It’s a white flag for yet more mass migration - legal and illegal.
“For the boats to keep coming.
“For our borders to stay open. It’s another shameful betrayal of voters.
“Labour’s big plan on illegal migration? To ‘clarify’ the law on Article 8 of the ECHR - commonly used to avoid deportation.
“But this does nothing to stop people using other routes, like Article 3, to stay here. If they were serious, they would disapply the Human Rights Act altogether.
“Mass, low-skilled migration has been a disaster for Britain. It has made us poorer and more divided. Less investment. Lower wages. Higher rents. Longer NHS queues. More potholes. Bigger class sizes. Weaker culture.
“The bath is overflowing, and they’re turning down the tap slightly. The only way to fix this is a legally-binding cap on visas, voted on by Parliament every year. Starmer says a cap has been tried. That simply isn’t true.
“The British people deserve better than this. We need action, not more consultations and delay. Like Blair, Starmer’s immigration policy is a recipe for disaster.”
CPS Research Director Karl Williams said: “The measures proposed fall some way short of those actually required to get migration down to the kind of levels which the public would be happy with.
“For example, cutting the time someone can stay in the UK on a Graduate visa from 24 months to 18 months will do nothing to address the problem of those using student and graduate visas to access the country with the primary intent to work, not to study, and then switching to other routes to extend their stay.
“The Government has also acknowledged the enormous increase in family visas and difficulties in deported foreign offenders back to their home countries, yet the White Paper takes no decisive action on either issue - simply kicking the can down the road until at least the end of the year.
“Ultimately the government has refused to commit to a numerical level of net migration.
“It is disappointing that the Government has so far refused to consider this option.”
Reform UK Deputy Leader Lee Anderson said: "Labour’s various proposals to halt illegal migration have been nothing more than publicity stunts aimed at winning back disillusioned voters.
"This was evident on Monday, when Starmer announced a plan to reduce migration—but refused to set a cap on the number of immigrants allowed in, knowing full well they would exceed it.
"Their bogus migration strategy is a response to our growing success in the polls.
"Starmer proposed extending the time requirement for gaining “settled status,” scrapping social care visas, and requiring an undergraduate degree to qualify for skilled worker visas.
"He also plans to make it easier to obtain UK citizenship.
"At no point in his address did he explain how he intends to secure our borders."
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