Benson, Michaela and Sigona, Nando and Benson, Michaela and Houlton, Emma (2025) Labour's new immigration plan is anything but Brexit. Who do we think we are? Present Global Britain.
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Abstract
Michaela and Nando get together to discuss the UK’s Labour Government 2025 promise to restore control over immigration by reducing net migration. The resonance with Brexit rhetoric couldn’t be clearer in the language and narrative surrounding this. Yet, Brexit remains the elephant in the room. They reflect on several key elements of the paper: health and social care visas, shifts in qualification levels and income requirements, student visas and e-visas. As their conversation highlights, the new immigration plan embeds further the criminalisation of certain migrants—and seeks new ways to do so—while offering no reflection on the absence of safe routes. From the announcements that surrounded the paper to the plans for reforming who can come to the UK and on what terms, what they reveal is the continuing significance of the far right anti-immigration politics in shaping the migration regime in Britain today.