The Conservative Party’s manifesto, published on Tuesday 11 June 2024, distinguishes its approach to migration policy between ‘illegal’ (hereafter ‘irregular’) and legal immigration, emphasising fairness and strict control to reduce strain on public services. They argue that irregular migration is unfair to legal migrants, taxpayers and the migrants themselves. The Conservatives claim to be the only party with a comprehensive plan to stop irregular migration, in contrast to Labour’s ‘amnesty plan’.

Irregular migration

Key points on irregular migration policy include:

• deterrence – establishing a persistent removal process for irregular migrants to Rwanda and prioritising national security over foreign court jurisdictions;
• legal reforms – implementing the Illegal Migration Act to expedite asylum claims and end the use of hotels for migrants;
• crime crackdown – disrupting people smuggling networks through enhanced efforts by the National Crime Agency and intelligence services;
• international asylum reforms – holding international summits to update asylum laws and restricting visas from non-cooperative countries;
• returns deals – signing agreements to return irregular migrants to their home countries, similar to the deal with Albania; and
• support for genuine refugees – maintaining visa schemes for certain refugees and giving parliament control over the number of places offered through safe and legal routes.

Legal migration

On broader immigration policy, the manifesto stresses the need to lower immigration levels to protect public services and restore public confidence. Steps already taken include restricting dependants for international students and care workers, increasing salary thresholds for work and family routes and raising the Immigration Health Surcharge. Proposals involve:

• automatically raising salary thresholds in line with inflation for the Skilled Worker route and minimum income requirement for the Family route;
• requiring health checks for migrants in advance of travel; and
• introducing a legal cap on migration numbers, subject to an annual parliamentary vote.

The plan for an annual cap on migration has been proposed as the Conservative Party’s primary policy for legal migration before the manifesto release. This policy would introduce a binding legal cap on migration, specifically targeting work and family routes. This cap, set in consideration of both the costs and benefits of migration, will decrease annually throughout the next Parliament and cannot be exceeded. Parliament will have an annual vote on the cap level to ensure public confidence in controlled immigration. The Conservatives also pledge not to reintroduce any form of European free movement, contrasting their approach with the Labour Party’s positions.

Analysis

In this manifesto, the Conservative Party has made a sharp distinction between legal and irregular immigration, distinguishing between immigration and asylum policies. In doing so, and in line with recent public pressures regarding small boat crossings and net migration figures, there is more detail regarding preventative measures than proactive immigration and asylum policies attempting to reinstate public trust in areas of migration policy.

On the introduction of annual legal caps to migration numbers, this measure is currently used in other countries such as the USA, which caps numbers for permanent employment-based immigrants. As people will recall, the Conservative party had previously introduced in 2011 and later removed a cap on the number of skilled workers who could apply for UK immigration permission, as it proved to be unpopular and burdensome for businesses.

However, this manifesto, published before that of the Labour Party, addresses key areas discussed in debates and the news. The level of detail on niche policy areas, such as we saw earlier in the week in the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto, is unlikely to be appreciated by the general public, and, therefore, this manifesto gets to the crux of the most pressing issues of the day.

LDI Partner Matthew Wills notes:

‘The Conservative manifesto emphasises the intention to attract the ‘brightest and best students’ to the UK. However, it simultaneously highlights steps that have been taken to render studying in the UK less appealing to international students, including ending the ability of almost all international students to bring dependent family members with them to the UK. The manifesto also includes a commitment to removing the student discount to the Immigration Health Surcharge as well as increasing the charge or requiring migrants to secure private health insurance if a health check indicates that they are likely to be a burden on the NHS.

It is, therefore, difficult to understand how the Conservatives aim to attract international talent to the UK’s educational institutions whilst continuing to deliberately make it less appealing for them to do so, including in relation to securing Skilled Worker sponsorship following graduation. The reduction of net migration rather than any discernible intention to attract international students appears to be the motivating force behind this aspect of the manifesto, particularly when assessed in tandem with the prospective introduction of a binding annual cap on migration. When the focus of the manifesto and other communication is on numbers rather than policy aspirations or individual circumstances it becomes easier (especially in the current economic climate) to desensitise the public towards migrants and the challenges that they face in the UK.’

While these policies may resonate with voters who prioritise national security and resource allocation, they face operational challenges and may not be popular with many businesses that require migrant workers as a key part of their workforce.

Get in touch

To learn more about upcoming changes to UK immigration law, please refer to our website, contact your assigned LDI lawyer or email enquiries@lauradevine.com.