MATT GOODWIN: Obsessing over illegal migrants in small boats is a bit like worrying about an unlocked first-floor window when the front door is wide open

As someone who has spent years monitoring the ever-growing number of migrants entering Britain on an annual basis, I am rarely shocked by the scale of the influx.

But even I was astonished to read yesterday that the latest net-migration figure — the number of people entering the country minus the number leaving — now stands at an incredible 672,000.

There are a number of different factors underlying this headline figure for the year to June 2023, of course. And not all of them reflect badly on the Government.

In the 12-month period involved, for example, Britain took in 33,000 refugees from the war in Ukraine. Another 47,000 came from Hong Kong in the wake of the clampdown there. Both represent humanitarian gestures that we should celebrate.

But there are more sinister underlying causes of this latest record-breaking figure: the legions of Leftie lawyers who fight every immigration case tooth and claw, the French police and coastguard who stand idly by as their unwanted migrants take to small boats and head for Britain and the appalling ineffectiveness of civil servants in the Home Office.

The number of people entering the country minus the number leaving — now stands at an incredible 672,000

There is also one central issue that cannot be ignored: becalmed in the economic doldrums and with almost a million job vacancies, Britain is suffering an acute labour shortage.

It is in a foolhardy attempt to get the economy growing by filling these roles — since so many native Britons appear reluctant to leave the dole queue — that the Government has become so lax on immigration. But we should be looking closer to home for solutions. There are, for example, now a record 2.6 million people claiming long-term sickness benefits.

Many of these will be unable to go back to work but others should be supported to return to the workforce and the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is to be congratulated for introducing measures in his Autumn Statement that encourage people who can work from home to do so.

However, this will do little to mollify those millions who voted first for Brexit and then, in 2019, for the Conservatives in the vain belief a Tory government would ‘take back control’ of our borders.

And who can blame them for feeling badly let down?

For while Rishi Sunak and his frontbench team are quite right to highlight the scandal of illegal immigrants in small boats, that’s rather like worrying about an unlocked first-floor window when the front door is wide open.

The number of small-boat illegal immigrants — 104,000 people in the five years since 2018 — is dwarfed by the number of legal immigrants who are low-wage, low-skill and may offer little to the British economy.

It is true that this is hardly a new problem. Its roots lie with Tony Blair and New Labour, who took office in 1997 when net migration stood at just 107,000 a year.

The number of small-boat illegal immigrants — 104,000 people in the five years since 2018 — is dwarfed by the number of legal immigrants

By the time Gordon Brown lost the 2010 election to David Cameron, that figure had nearly tripled to 294,000.

But I believe the Conservative Government has made a number of serious mistakes in its attempt to encourage immigration in the interests of fostering economic growth. To start with, they’ve set the salary thresholds for incoming workers too low — substantially less than the national full-time median wage of £35,000 a year.

To be eligible for a so-called skilled worker visa, the applicant must have lined up a job commanding a salary of at least £26,200. But many of those arriving in this country to fulfil such roles are unlikely to be bringing specialist skills. They are simply doing jobs that people here should be taking up in the first place. The Government has also made it much easier for migrants from outside the European Union to enter and remain in the UK while giving no real thought to how these newcomers — often with very different values, religions, cultures and lifestyles — might be integrated.

In total, an eye-watering 1.2 million people migrated to Britain last year, with an overwhelming majority — 968,000 — coming from outside the EU.

India, Nigeria, China, Pakistan and Ukraine are now the top five sources of migrants to Britain, underlining how the UK’s migration story has changed since we left the EU.

In total, an eye-watering 1.2 million people migrated to Britain last year, with an overwhelming majority — 968,000 — coming from outside the EU

This is due, in large part, to a liberalising of rules relating to international students, who now account for about 39 per cent of non-EU immigration. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many of them arrive with relatives in tow.

While the relatives of students accounted for 6 per cent of non-EU student migration in 2019, they now make up a quarter of non-EU student migration, with most coming from either Nigeria or India.

Meanwhile, contrary to the popular claim that many of these students simply come to Britain to study and then return home, the Office for National Statistics now concedes that many are ‘staying for longer and transitioning on to work visas’.

This type of migration is being used to prop up a higher education system which is at breaking point, organised as it is around too many universities and in dire need of reform. And while the proportion of refugees in the latest migration total has fallen, the share of migrants coming to Britain for work purposes has increased to 33 per cent.

It’s obvious that most people in Britain are uncomfortable with the scale of immigration and want to see it reduced.

The roots of the problem lie with Tony Blair and New Labour, who took office in 1997 when net migration stood at just 107,000 a year

Surveys have found that immigration is not only the top priority for people who voted for Boris Johnson and the Conservative party in 2019 but is the third-most important issue for all voters.

The issue reveals a worrying disconnect between ordinary people and business, the City and Westminster — who all want to encourage immigration to keep labour costs low, increase the tax take and keep the economic forecasters happy with a little growth.

For, while mass immigration works for the new elite, it hurts everybody else.

It disproportionately undermines the wages and financial security of working people and the non-graduate majority. It drives up housing costs and rent, and makes it much harder for those already here to access social housing and public services such as schools, GP surgeries and hospitals.

That’s why immigration is fuelling populism, with millions of people coming to the conclusion that the things they care deeply about — such as national identity, culture, values and ‘the British way of life’ — are being sacrificed by a political class which either struggles to relate to them or simply does not care.

Surveys have found that immigration is not only the top priority for people who voted for Boris Johnson and the Conservative party in 2019 but is the third-most important issue for all voters

That’s why I believe our failing experiment with mass immigration has placed a ticking time-bomb at the heart of our politics.

It’s crystal clear, in my mind at least, that the status quo is completely unsustainable.

The danger is that, with the Conservative Party currently struggling to regain public trust, voters may be tempted to turn to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour for a new approach.

READ MORE: Suella Braverman leads a Tory revolt on migration as figures over two years hit a record 1.3 million, with the former Home Secretary calling them a ‘slap in the face’ for voters 

That would be deeply misguided. Labour will never get a grip on immigration and has no credible plan for stopping the boats.

It will never introduce, as I believe is necessary, a five-year moratorium on all new immigration except for the very highly qualified and those with the right qualifications to work in the NHS and social care.

Labour’s only likely policy on immigration would be to do a deal with the European Union that could let even more people in.

With the starting gun for the next General Election now thought to have been fired by the Chancellor with his tax giveaways in the Autumn Statement, the Conservatives are right to be worried about net migration.

Their best hope is that the electorate understands that the scale of the problem would grow still further under Keir Starmer.

Matt Goodwin is author of Values, Voice & Virtue: The New British Politics.

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