Mel Stride admits migration spike of 745,000 was ‘too high and unacceptable’, but could tax cuts bring it down?
Government minister Mel Stride has described the UK’s net migration figure of 745,000 as “unacceptable” and claimed tax cuts could help bring it down.
The work and pensions secretary said revised figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which revised the previous estimate of 606,000 for the year to December 2022, up to 745,000 were “too high”.
It comes as immigration minister Robert Jenrick reportedly proposed a five-point plan to cut migration, said to include a ban on foreign social care workers bringing dependents.
Stride told Times Radio: “We do accept these figures are too high, they’re unacceptable. That is exactly why we will be coming forward with further approaches to bring these down.”
Commenting on the UK’s workforce, he said: “A lot of this migration has been driven by a need for skilled labour in certain sectors.”
The cabinet minister said the UK government had already taken action by “clamping down on the number of dependents” that international students can bring over to the UK.
Stride also pointed to reforms aimed at helping back into work some of the 2.5m people on benefits who have long-term sickness and disabilities and said there was a “huge push to increase engagement with the labour market particularly from hitherto hard to reach areas”.
He said: “In the round, the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility), has recognised that that will be bringing these migration figures lower. But there is more to be done.”
Stride also told LBC that reforms to the welfare system and tax cuts in the autumn statement could lead to a reduction in net migration.
He said: “What is really important is what DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) and I are doing to get more people to engage with the labour market so we can take pressure off the labour market which is driving some of this migration growth.
“And secondly, those employment taxes that the Chancellor was able to reduce I think are very significant too because that will help increase the supply of labour as well.”
Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds told Times Radio the Conservatives had failed to control migration after revised figures showed the legal arrivals were at an all-time high.
She said: “They represent a huge failure of the Conservative Government when it comes to our economy and migration policy as well.
“What lies behind these figures is a 54 per cent increase in work visas, a 156 per cent increase in health and social care visas… the government has not put in place the kind of fair pay agreement or workforce development that Labour has called for.