Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to grant visas to “wealthy, high-skilled Americans” who want to migrate to the UK “for fear of what President-elect Trump will do to their country”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey pressed the Prime Minister not to exclude those who want “bring their money and their skills” to the UK in his efforts to “reduce immigration from the record highs of the Conservatives”.
The difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country hit a record 906,000 in the 12 months to June 2023, some 166,000 higher than previously thought, according to revised estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Sir Keir has promised to cut immigration, but stopped short of setting any targets.
The Government has previously said that tackling skills shortages in the UK, reforming “our approach to the labour market” and “clamping down on employers who exploit the visa system” will help to reduce net migration.
During Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons on Wednesday, Sir Ed offered “an idea” to Chancellor Rachel Reeves on how to “grow the economy”.
He said: “As President-elect Trump prepares to take office next week, there are reports that a number of wealthy, high-skilled Americans are looking to come to the UK for fear of what President-elect Trump will do to their country.
“But because the Conservatives so broke the immigration system, many of them are finding there is no visa that they can apply for.
“Now, I know the Prime Minister is rightly seeking to reduce immigration from the record highs of the Conservatives, but does he agree, if people like this want to come to our country to bring their money and their skills so we can grow our economy and pay for our public services, they should be able to?”
Sir Keir replied: “We welcome all investment into the United Kingdom, and I am very pleased to have record investment in the time that we have been in office.”
He added: “The last Government lost control of immigration, as they lost control of health and the economy and the borders and everything else, and it was, of course, the Leader of the Opposition who was championing the driving up of the numbers.
“So we will bring those numbers down. We’ll get it back under control. We’ll encourage investment.”
