Labour snubs net migration target and shifts blame on French for soaring migrant boats

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has refused to confirm a target on net migration ahead of unveiling Labour's attempts to crackdown on the issue. She said that the Home Office is “not going to take” the same approach as previous governments but said she was seeking a "substantial" reduction in figures.

Asked whether the Immigration White Paper would include a target number, Ms Cooper said: “The Conservatives did set out multiple targets, broken promises, all of them were broken. So, we’re not going to do that. We’re not going to take that really failed approach, because I think what we need to do is rebuild credibility and trust in the whole system.

“So, we’ll set out practical steps, we’ll set out the impact that they will have, but we’re not going to take the approach the Conservatives took because it failed.”

The Immigration White Paper, being unveiled on Monday, is being presented as part of Government efforts to reduce net migration into the UK, with the figure reaching 728,000 in 2024.

Net migration is the difference between the number of people moving to a country and those emigrating.

The Home Secretary also insisted the French need to display "much stronger enforcement" to stop small boats.

Latest data shows they are stopping around a third of all crossing attempts.

This is despite Britain giving France around £500million for prevention work.

The Government is also going to close the care worker visa route for overseas recruitment, the Home Secretary has indicated.

Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Ms Cooper laid out some of the details that will be set out this week with the Immigration White Paper.

She said: “We’re going to introduce new restrictions on lower-skilled workers, so new visa controls, because we think actually what we should be doing is concentrating on the higher-skilled migration and we should be concentrating on training in the UK.

“New requirements to train here in the UK to make sure that the UK workforce benefits, and, also, we will be closing the care worker visa for overseas recruitment.”

Responding to the Government’s White Paper, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said that “fixing Britain’s migration crisis requires a new radical approach. Labour had the opportunity to do this and have failed”.

He added: “If Labour were serious about immigration, they’d back our binding immigration cap and back our plan to repeal the entire Human Rights Act from immigration matters. But they have got no grip, no guts and no plan.”