David Hanson, the Shadow Immigration Minister, responding to Home Affairs Select Committee report on the work of the Home Office immigration directorates, said:

“This is the final nail in the coffin of the Tories’ flagship net migration target. The Committee has declared their target is in tatters and has only served to reduce public confidence in the immigration system. David Cameron and Theresa May must now acknowledge their failure and set out an alternative to the mess they have presided over for the last four years.

“Immigration is important to Britain, but it needs to be controlled and managed so the system is fair. The committee is right to say one of the reasons the net migration target has failed is because it treated all immigration the same. We have long called for the government to have different rules for overseas students, who bring billions into our economy each year, than for low-skilled immigration, which can be exploited by dodgy employers looking to undercut local jobs and wages. Labour is the only party with plans to tackle this and prevent agencies that only recruit from abroad. 

“We have also set out clear plans to introduce exit checks to help clamp down on illegal immigration, fully funded proposals to recruit an additional 1,000 border staff to ensure rules can be enforced and to make it easier to deport foreign criminals.“

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