Author: Hamza Malik
The third UK election in just over four years is set for 12 December 2019. Immigration continues to be a key topic for political parties. In this article, we compare the manifestos of the three main political parties, on immigration.
1. The Conservative Party
A key part of the Conservative Immigration Manifesto is ending freedom of movement for European nationals. The Conservatives want to bring in a new ‘unified’ immigration system for all non-UK nationals.
The new unified immigration system is set to be based on the Australian Points Based System, with an emphasis on the best and the brightest. The Conservatives say that this new system will be fairer for skilled migrants and tougher on criminals.
Other key policy announcements include:
- A fast-track NHS visa
- A re-introduction of the Post-Study Work visa (or the Graduate Immigration Route)
- An end to the net-migration target but a lower number of low-skilled migrants
- Introduction of a Global Talent Visa: This announcement was made back in August and is likely to be an expansion of the popular Tier 1 Exceptional Talent route. The Global Talent Visa is likely to be wider than the Tier 1 route and is expected to dilute the current stringent requirement and remove the yearly cap.
- Increase in the Immigration Health Surcharge to cover the full cost of use (currently set at £400 per year and is expected to increase to £625 per year in 2020).
2. Labour
The Labour manifesto on immigration focuses on an end to the hostile environment (for migrants) and a final say on Brexit. Their key proposals include:
- Freedom of movement to be negotiated under a new Brexit deal
- Scrapping the minimum income requirement under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. The most popular route under Appendix FM is the Spouse of a British/settled citizen category. The current minimum income requirement is £18,600 (or higher if there are non-British children).
- An end to indefinite immigration detention
- Right to Work for asylum seekers
Surprisingly, the previous Labour announcements on continuing freedom of movement, in the event of Brexit, are absent from the official party manifesto
The emphasis, however, remains on domestic workers, and labour’s proposals on employment are much more in-depth and focus on extending worker rights. The employment proposals also include a proposed ban on ‘overseas’ only recruitment.
3. Liberal Democrats
The immigration proposals of the Liberal Democrats are perhaps the most radical of all parties. Two headlines of their immigration proposals are:
- Revoke Article 50 – and thereby putting an end to the Brexit process
- Dismantle the Home Office and delegate their powers to various government bodies
The first proposal is somewhat straightforward to comprehend, but the latter requires an overhaul of a department that has been historically responsible for all immigration-related policy in the UK. The Liberal democrats’ proposal is to take away immigration powers from the Home Office and give them to the Department of Business and Education respectively.
The Liberal Democrats also pledge to create a brand new arms-length non-political agency to take over processing of applications. Other key proposals include:
- Investment in Border security
- Reducing the fee to register a child as a British citizen
- Abolish the minimum income requirement for spouse visas
- Replace the Tier 2 visa with a ‘merit-based’ visa
- Create a 2-year Post-Study Work visa
- End to indefinite immigration detention
- Close seven of the nine immigration detention centres
- Right to work for asylum seekers
