The Brexit advocates promised a radical new immigration policy. Not only did they want to isolate the island from “influences” from the continent, i.e. destroy a common European vision for the people of Europe, they also advocated a U-turn in the kingdom’s migration policy. It was precisely with this promise that they scored with many citizens. What has become of it now?
British Prime Minister Sunak recently declared: “The numbers are too high, it’s as simple as that. I will make sure that they come down.” He was reacting to the publication of immigration data by the “Office for National Statistics” (ONS). A bad judgment for a top politician who is one of the supporters of Brexit, because the “Take Back Control” promise, which Brexit supporters have been reciting like a mantra for years, seems to have been broken. In Great Britain, the new figures are read as a sign of the failure of conservative migration policy. Last year, net migration, i.e. the difference between immigration and emigration, reached a new high of 606,000. For comparison: in 2015 before the Brexit referendum, the figure was 329,000.
What is surprising is that the “invasion” of immigrants across the English Channel, as much of the British government has termed it, is not responsible for the rise in numbers. In recent months, Sunak’s government has committed itself to curbing small boat migrants with harsh rhetoric and a controversial law. Much is due to immigration through legal channels, new ONS survey shows.
Compared to pre-Brexit times, it is no longer EU citizens who enter the country legally, but those from other parts of the world who make up the majority of immigrants. Of the almost 1.2 million people who came to the island last year, 925,000 came from non-EU countries. Students accounted for the largest share (361,000), most of them from India, China and Nigeria. Around 235,000 non-EU immigrants came to the country for work purposes. In 2021 there were still 61,000 people.
Three years after leaving the EU, the UK still faces acute labor shortages, particularly in the low-wage sector. Because neither locals nor EU citizens want to do the jobs. “Brits are not interested in working seasonally because they need long-term jobs,” says the director of the Migration Observatory project at Oxford University. “They often don’t want to work for low wages either, especially in view of the skyrocketing cost of living in this country.” Because Brexit has made the entry requirements for EU citizens more difficult – they now need a work visa and can no longer make use of the EU right of free movement – these are not coming either more. In addition, the income thresholds for foreign workers have been lowered since leaving the EU. This makes work far more attractive for non-EU citizens than for those from the Union, as wages in their home countries are often lower.
Cautious reactions to the development have recently emerged from the ranks of the Conservatives. The justice minister proposed filling low-skilled hospitality and horticultural positions with ex-prisoners to reduce immigration, while the home secretary, notorious for her radical theses, said in mid-May there was “no reason” why not more native workers for “ fruit pickers” and “truck drivers” could be trained.
For the conservative governing party, the fresh figures shortly after the historic defeat in local elections at the beginning of May are proving to be another stress test. “The anger and frustration of my constituents has so far been focused on illegal migration, but that will only increase when they see these numbers on legal migration,” says a party MP. Another Tory MP told Politico: “The anger will be evident as we knock on doors in our constituencies this weekend.”
Great Britain records a peak number of boat migrants who crossed the English Channel in 2023 despite the relatively tough British deportation policy. There were almost 46,000 in total, around 17,000 more than in the previous year and more than ever before. The British government wants to stop this migration across the English Channel with restrictive immigration laws.
Anyone who arrives in Great Britain as a boat refugee, for example, should be deported as quickly as possible to Rwanda or another country that is considered safe – regardless of refugee status. Until then, the immigrants are to be held in camps, including on ships. According to critics, the project is equivalent to a ban on asylum.
The British Parliament had already approved a law at the end of April that is intended to prevent migrants arriving illegally on rubber dinghies from making such crossings. In the future, London is to be obliged to immediately take those irregular immigrants into custody pending deportation and deny them the opportunity to apply for political asylum. Instead, the migrants should be deported to their countries of origin or, if this poses unreasonable risks for those concerned, to safe third countries. However, the law still has to be approved by the House of Lords, which could see the regulations weakened.
The British government has always mentioned Rwanda as a possible target country for deportations. An admission agreement has been concluded with his government, which, according to Interior Minister Suella Braverman, should apply “indefinitely”. The repatriation to Rwanda was temporarily stopped by an emergency decision by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and is still a dispute in court in Great Britain. A decision by an appeals court is expected in the summer, with the Supreme Court likely to deal with it afterwards.
One of the tightening measures decided in the current legislative process is the clause that in future London should stand by deportation decisions even if an urgent decision by the European Court of Human Rights temporarily blocks them. On the other hand, the government announced in the final debate in the House of Commons that it would relax the regulations for certain groups of people. This includes victims of human trafficking and minors.
In order to at least translate populist promises into politics, the British government is stepping up its rigid policy towards refugees: In Great Britain, migrants are sometimes housed on barges. Despite criticism of this practice, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak now wants to buy two more ships. Despite international criticism of this approach to unwanted migrants, the country is sticking to the procedure: “The government can solve this problem with courage and determination,” said Sunak. Every means available is used.
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