UK PM Sunak Pledges Immigration Visa Caps

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged for a new annual caps on work and family visas to cut immigration after the opposition laid out it's plans for the key election issue.

The ruling Conservative party made this announced plans on Tuesday.

The plan laid out by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is predicted to lose to Labour’s Keir Starmer in the July election, would involve a new cap on the number of visas that would be set by parliament each year.

Immigration is a highly contentious topic this election with net migration levels soaring to 685,000 last year, a figure that both main political parties have said is too high.

Over the weekend, Starmer set out Labour’s plans to cut regular migration by banning “bad bosses” who violate labour laws from bringing foreign workers to the country, and by requiring employers to prioritise training Britons first.

With a debate due on Tuesday where Starmer and Sunak will face off on key issues for the first time during their campaigns, the prime minister’s new policy seeks to set his party apart from Labour.

“We have taken bold action to cut the number of people coming to this country. The plan is working but migration levels are still too high, so we are going further,” Sunak said in a statement.

“The Conservatives are the only party that is willing (to) take the bold action needed to cut immigration figures,” he added.
The annual cap, which will progressively be lowered each year to cut migration numbers, will not affect foreign students and seasonal workers.

More than 300,000 work visas were given in the year ending March 2024, which is more than double the number granted in 2019, according to official statistics.

The Tory government has introduced new regulations this year to target regular immigration, including barring international students and social care workers from bringing dependents, and hiking the minimum salary for skilled worker visas.

Reacting to the development, Labour’s shadow home minister Yvette Cooper dismissed the proposed policy as a “meaningless announcement”.