Panic Mode: Keir Starmer Plans Tough New Immigration Crackdown After Labour Faces Election Disaster!
Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, is preparing to announce strict new immigration rules after the local elections this week. Labour officials are worried that they might suffer major losses to Reform UK, the party led by Nigel Farage. After the May 1 elections, the government is expected to release a white paper that will explain their new immigration plans. One of the main ideas is to make it harder for foreign students who are in Britain on graduate visas to switch into low-paying jobs, such as in health and social care.
The timing of this announcement is no coincidence. Reform UK is predicted to win a large number of council seats and could even take a seat from Labour in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. So far, Starmer has not even visited that area to campaign, which Farage pointed out as a sign that Labour knows they might lose there.
Although insiders at the Home Office say that these immigration policies have been in the works since last November, it’s clear that the sudden urgency comes from Labour’s fear of losing ground to Reform UK. Lord Glasman, a political ally close to the Labour leadership, did not hold back when he warned that if Labour does not change its approach, it could be “game over” for them. He said Labour needs to focus on being a patriotic, pro-worker party instead of only talking about issues like diversity, which he believes don’t connect with many voters.
Adding more pressure, a senior figure from a major trade union said that many working-class union members are planning to vote for Reform this time. Recent opinion polls show Reform leading with 25%, Labour trailing at 23%, and the Conservatives at 21%. Nigel Farage has been loudly promising to take a hard line on immigration if elected, saying he would personally make sure illegal migrants are deported.
Behind the scenes, Labour’s chief strategist Morgan McSweeney knows that cutting net migration numbers is crucial to stopping Reform’s momentum. The new immigration plan will aim to bring net migration down even further, after it peaked at 906,000 last year and dropped slightly to 728,000. Some of the other proposals include banning companies that break employment laws from hiring foreign workers and pushing businesses to hire and train British workers instead of relying on overseas labor.
Another major change being considered is tightening the rules around graduate visas. Some Labour figures, like Yvette Cooper, have raised concerns that many international students stay longer in Britain by moving into low-wage care jobs. Officials are looking at setting a minimum salary requirement to stop this from happening, but this could cause problems for the already struggling care sector, which depends heavily on workers from abroad.
Even though there are concerns that stricter immigration rules might hurt economic growth, Labour leaders believe that most voters want tougher action, especially in areas like Runcorn and Helsby where immigration is a major issue. Labour is betting that taking a harder stance on immigration could help them avoid a major defeat.
