Net migration figures ‘shockingly high’ and show ‘scale of Tory failure’, Labour says – UK politics live | Politics

Keir Starmer has said that the autumn statement won’t stop people getting poorer over the course of this parliament. Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to Essex, he said:

Whichever way the government tried to spin the autumn statement, the reality is that living standards are dropping, the tax burden is going up and that disposable income at the end of this government is going to be less than it was at the beginning for ordinary working people.

That’s worth thinking about. That means people will have less money in their pocket at the end of this government than they had at the beginning. [See 12.48pm.]

Starmer also said a Labour government would have “tough choices” to make on public spending if it came to power. But he said the party had plans to raise funds through some tax rises that it has announced, and he said Labour would champion growth.

If we are privileged enough to come into power, I don’t underestimate the challenges that we will face because of the 13 years of failure that we’ve already had. That will require tough choices. But we have already said where we will increase tax ….

The underlying answer has to be about economic growth. And if you’re going to have economic growth, you need a realisable plan that’s worked with business to make it actually work.

The government says it wants growth, but just look at the forecast they’ve got after 13 years of near negligible growth, they’ve now got a forecast that it’s not going to grow very much in the future.

Labour says today’s ONS figures show “the scale of utter Tory failure on immigration”. This is from Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary.

Today’s net migration statistics, including a 65% increase in net migration for work, show the scale of utter Tory failure on immigration, asylum and the economy.

These figures are driven by a 54% increase in work visas and a 156% increase in health and social care visas which prove the Conservatives’ abysmal record on skills, training and workforce planning, as they have run our economy into the ground.

They are still failing to make changes Labour has called for to end the 20% wage discount in the immigration system and to link it to training requirements.

Downing Street has said that net migration is “far too high”.

Commenting on today’s figures from the ONS, the PM’s spokesperson said the government was working to bring numbers down, but he said there was “much more to do”. He told reporters at the lobby briefing:

Net migration remains far too high. That’s why we are taking action to bring it down. That is what the British public expect.

That’s why in May we announced the toughest-ever action to reduce migration. That includes clamping down on the roughly 150,000 dependants of students who come into the UK every year and introducing an additional immigration health surcharge and raising visa costs.

We know this is predicted to lead to significant reductions. As we’ve seen today, the ONS figures show migration is now reducing year on year [see 10.06am], but we believe there is much more to do.

Where the system is being abused, we will leave no stone unturned in rooting that out so companies and individuals cannot exploit our system.

Asked why the government did not just issue fewer visas, the spokesperson said it was important to “strike the right balance” and that it was necessary to allow foreign workers in to address “short-term pressures” in areas, such as health and social care. He went on:

It is important that we take the time to consider carefully how we approach this, given the importance that a number of migrants can contribute – whether that’s to our health and care sector, or elsewhere to the wider economy.

We do believe there is further to go here and that’s why we’re keeping it under review.

Turning back to the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ assessment of the autumn statement, it says that Jeremy Hunt’s tax cuts yesterday return less than £1 to taxpayers for every extra £4 they are paying because of tax rises since 2021.

Another way of putting that would be to say that, for every £1 the Treasury has taken, less than 25p is coming back under yesterday’s measures.

This is from the analysis by the IFS’s Robert Joyce.

The headline measures in this autumn statement were cuts to the rates of national insurance contributions for employees and the self-employed. Taken in isolation, these put money back into the pockets of almost 30 million workers at a cost of around £10 billion per year, with anyone earning at least £12,570, or making profits of at least £6,725, per year benefitting.

The bigger picture is that these changes give back less than £1 of every £4 that is being taken away from households through changes to NICs and income tax announced since March 2021. Those takeaways are far less transparent than the smaller giveaway announced today – implemented as they are through multi-year freezes to income tax and NICs thresholds, which gradually bring more and more people into higher tax brackets, and especially so at a time of high inflation.

Labour wants David Cameron to reveal the extent of his links to a Chinese-backed enterprise, PA Media reports. PA says:

Labour has questioned reports of the foreign secretary’s links to a Sri Lankan port development and its ties with the Chinese government.

MPs also continued to question the Tory peer’s role in the Greensill affair, in which he privately lobbied ministers in an attempt to win access for the now-collapsed financial firm to an emergency coronavirus loan scheme.

During Cabinet Office questions in the Commons, Labour’s Pat McFadden asked who the “ultimate client” was for Cameron’s “role in promoting the Port City Colombo project in Sri Lanka”, and if it was a company owned by the Chinese state.

The project is part of China’s global infrastructure strategy, the belt and road initiative, with Chinese companies involved in its construction.

The Cabinet Office minister John Glen replied: “This isn’t a matter for me. This is a matter for the processes that I have set out which have been complied with. And I believe Lord Cameron has made some comments with respect to those matters.”

McFadden had earlier asked “whether all benefits in kind received by the foreign secretary while he acted as a lobbyist for Greensill Capital have been properly declared”, and whether the former prime minister’s tax affairs were examined and considered by the House of Lords appointments commission before his peerage was approved.

Glen replied: “I’m not going to comment on media speculation … Lord Cameron’s appointment followed all the established processes for both peerages and ministerial appointments. The ennoblement was approved by the House of Lords appointments commission in the usual way, and that included a check with HMRC.”

The New Conservatives, a group of rightwing Tory MPs co-chaired by Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger, have expressed alarm about today’s net migration figure.

In a statement, the group says that this is a “do or die” moment for the Tories and that Rishi Sunak should publish plans to show how the party will get net migration below 229,000, the level it was at the time of the last election, when reducing migration was a Tory manifesto promise. The New Conservatives say this must happen by the next election, which must be held by January 2025 at the latest.

They say:

For the Treasury, there may be reasonable arguments for increasing immigration – because more people translates into more recorded economic activity – but the truth is the public won’t accept it. Our voters can tell the difference between real economic growth that improves the standard of living for ordinary households, and the phantom ‘growth’ that importing ever more people puts on a Treasury spreadsheet.

High rates of immigration depress wages, reduce investment in skills and technology, put unsustainable pressure on housing and public services, and threaten community cohesion.

The word ‘existential’ has been used a lot in recent days but this really is ‘do or die’ for our party. Each of us made a promise to the electorate. We don’t believe that such promises can be ignored.

The government must propose, today, a comprehensive package of measures to meet the manifesto promise by the time of the next election. We will assess any such package and report publicly on whether it will meet the promise made to the electorate.

The New Conservatives include prominent supporters of Suella Braverman, the former home secretary who has herself criticised Sunak for not doing enough to bring down immigration.