Former Home Secretary James Cleverly has accused Sir Keir Starmer of wrongly taking credit for a significant 50 per cent reduction in immigration numbers, claiming the drop is due to Conservative policies that the Labour leader previously opposed.
Speaking to GB News, Cleverly said the decrease in migration figures was primarily the result of visa rule changes he implemented while serving as Home Secretary under Rishi Sunak's Government.
The former minister expressed frustration at Labour's claims of achievement during their first year in power, pointing out that the recently released immigration statistics actually cover the last calendar year, when Conservatives were in Government for half the period.
"I find it pretty galling that he's been taking credit for this reduction in migration numbers," Cleverly told GB News.
James Cleverly hit out at Keir Starmer 'taking credit' for net migration figures
PA / GB News
He fumed: "He's been all over social media, and Labour MPs have been saying, 'look what we achieved in our first year in Government', forgetting that the figures that were released today cover last calendar year, half of which they weren't even in Government."
The former Home Secretary was particularly critical of what he described as Labour's attempt to claim responsibility for policy outcomes they had previously opposed.
"The idea that Keir Starmer is taking credit for the difficult decisions that we made and that he opposed at the time, I think is a bit rich," he added.
Cleverly highlighted specific policy changes he implemented that contributed to the reduction in immigration numbers.
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Net migration to the UK is estimated to have halved from 860,000 in the year ending December 2023 to 431,000 in the year ending December 2024
PA"Actually that reduction, and the Office for National Statistics says so, is primarily due to the changes in the visa rules that I put in place, reducing the number of dependents that students and workers can bring with them from overseas, and increasing the salary threshold," he explained.
He emphasised that these decisions were made with support from his ministerial team and with "the full backing of the Prime Minister" at the time.
The former Home Secretary claimed these policy changes were responsible for the substantial 50 percent reduction in immigration figures that Labour is now attempting to claim credit for.
Cleverly explained that several factors contributed to the sharp increase in immigration figures before the general election.
"When I was appointed as Home Secretary, Rishi Sunak said that he wanted me to bring those immigration figures down. The really sharp increase was in the couple of years leading up to the general election," he said.
Cleverly told GB News that Starmer's Government 'only talks tough in practice'
GB News
He cited specific causes including "the Ukrainian refugees that we took into the UK, including the Hong Kong Chinese that we took into the UK, and of course, the really distorting effect that we had after Covid, where a lot of foreign workers left."
Cleverly claimed that the immigration reduction would continue due to the visa regime established by the Conservatives, but accused the current Labour government of failing to implement additional planned restrictions.
"It's going to keep coming down because of the visa regime we put in place. But the Labour Government decided not to implement another tightening measure that was scheduled to come into force this spring," he told GB News.
The former Home Secretary suggested this demonstrated a gap between Labour's rhetoric and actions on immigration control.
"So they talk tough but in practice, they are not doing any of the difficult things, even when we hand them to them on a plate," he added.
