In the first 10 months of last year, more than 5,000 migrants arrived in Britain as ‘skilled workers,’ only later to claim asylum so as to remain in the country permanently. That’s about a 100-fold increase on the official 2022 figure of 53.
A new report by the National Audit Office says that the government “does not fully understand” what happens to those who come to Britain under this ‘skilled worker’ visa programme—the main route for workers to come to Britain, which Robert Bates, from the Centre for Migration Control, described as a “ghastly Frankenstein’s monster of a scheme.” There were more than half a million applications for skilled worker visas in 2023 alone.
And while the opposition Conservative Party said these figures were “deeply concerning,” Bates told europeanconservative.com that migrants have been able to game the skilled worker route thanks to the efforts of past and present “inattentive ministers in collaboration with free movement-loving civil servants.”
Throw in our judges’ infatuation with human rights law, a tsunami of state-funded charities and legal support that makes claiming asylum as easy as picking up a Tesco Clubcard, and you’ve a potent mix.
A spokesman for the current Labour government blamed this bending of visa rules on its Tory predecessors, insisting that “this government is getting a grip of this problem.”
Our upcoming immigration White Paper will set out a comprehensive plan to restore order to our broken immigration system, linking immigration, skills and visa systems to grow our domestic workforce, end reliance on overseas labour and boost economic growth.
If Labour’s supposed efforts to clamp down on illegal Channel crossings are anything to go by, voters ought not to get their hopes up.
For an actual chance of success, Bates suggested that ministers should simply freeze asylum applications, given that the system is in such a “grim state.”
“The alternative,” he added, “is its eventual collapse, an amnesty to all illegal migrants, and hardworking Brits having to pick up the bill.”
