A huge row kicked off on GB News over net migration statistics that were published this week showing net migration has fallen from 860,000 in 2023 to 431,000 in 2024.
Whether the Labour Government deserves credit remains a point of contention, but Barry Gardiner MP suggested they are deserving of some recognition.
He said while the Conservatives introduced the measures that have resulted in a fall, they did not enact them.
“You say ‘can the Labour Government be given any credit for net migration being cut by a halve’, would you give us the credit if the numbers had doubled?”, he asked.
Barry Gardiner locked horns with Nana Akua on GB News
GB NEWS
“I don’t expect any credit for the fact net migration has now halved. Let’s look at what has happened since the election.
“Since the election, we have removed 30,000 people. And I know you will say ‘they were voluntary’.
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“What you then have is enforced returns up by 23 per cent on the same period last year. The Conservatives may have had the policy, but they weren’t actually carrying it out. We are carrying that policy out.
“The way to stop this and the way to actually do this is what we have said week after week. We need to be closer to where the problem is, safe and legal routes we can separate out and say ‘you really are a genuine asylum seeker, you mister, are not’.
“If you do that, you separate economic migrants out from the genuine asylum seekers. That’s the way to do it.”
GB News star Nana Akua put it to Gardiner that the filtering process he describes would only take place once they arrive in Britain.
Barry Gardiner suggested Labour deserves some credit for net migration halving
GB NEWS
She put it to him that them arriving in Britain in itself provides major stumbling blocks in eventually removing them from the country.
“I didn’t say that”, said Gardiner.
“Let me finish”, Nana interjected. “I’ve listened to you and you’ve talked for quite a bit there.
“What you’ve said is, we need to carry on figuring out who should be here and who shouldn’t but there is no mention of actually stopping the boats and stopping them from coming here in the first place.
Illegal migration is marked as 'irregular migration' in the ONS document
GB NEWS“I’m sure you will know the percentage of people coming here via dinghy who stay?”
“By all means tell us”, said Gardiner. Nana responded: “Do you know? Do you know the percentage?”
Barry said: “I know what the courts say. When they do come to court, and again, we have increased the volume going through the courts by about 40 per cent.
“We have speeded that process up so they are stuck in hotels, like the Tories had them.
“The judges then say that two-thirds of those claiming asylum are genuine, they are the ones allowed to stay.
“You may not like what the judges say, but that’s British law.”
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the change was driven by lower immigration from countries outside the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, with notable reductions from India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
"We are seeing reductions in people arriving on work- and study-related visas and an increase in emigration over the 12 months to December 2024," the ONS said.
Thursday's data showed a 49 per cent fall in immigration for work and a 17 per cent decrease in those seeking to study. The number of dependents from both categories also dropped sharply.
The ONS noted that international students who arrived when Covid travel restrictions were lifted are now leaving as their visas expire.
