UK to Follow Trump on Deportations? PM Starmer Plans to Reduce Immigration, Admits Policy Failure

London: British Prime Minister Kier Starmer has pledged on Thursday to reduce migration into the country and announced his plans to reform the points-based immigration system.

The proposed changes aim to shift the responsibility onto businesses to train British workers instead of relying heavily on overseas labor.

‘By design, Not Accident’

"A failure on this scale isn't just bad luck. No, this is a different order of failure. Brexit was used for that purpose to turn Britain into a 'one nation experiment' in open borders," Starmer told the press, in reference to Britain's 2016 decision to leave the European Union.

" This happened by design, not accident. Policies were reformed deliberately to liberalise immigration.", he added further. 

"Where we find clear evidence of sectors that are over- reliant on immigration, we will reform the Points Based System and make sure that applications for the relevant visa routes, whether it's the skilled worker route or the shortage occupation list, will now come with new expectations on training people here in our country.", said Starmer, while speaking to the press. 

Record Breaking Immigration Numbers 

Starmer's statement came shortly after official data revealed that net migration had surged to a record-breaking 900,000 in the year, far exceeding earlier projections. In a press conference, British PM criticized the policies of the former Conservative government which attributed the spike in migration numbers to their mismanagement and reaffirmed his commitment to curbing immigration.

Starmer said his government intends to overhaul the points-based immigration brought in by the Conservatives in 2021 after Brexit implementation.

Immigration a Hot-Button Issue in Europe 

High levels of immigration have become a hot-button issue in Europe after an influx of immigrants and fear of demographic change. Voters worry that strained public services cannot cope with such large influxes of people, while sectors such as healthcare say they cannot function without foreign workers.