I wouldn’t characterise the Labour position as xenophobic. Only some students can bring their families, and it was only widened out to masters students in 2018. They’re only here for 9 months and there isn’t the same need for them to bring families as with workers and PhD students, for example. The Labour line about employers not being allowed to pay migrant workers less seems like a reasonable one and is recommended by the Migration Advisory Committee.
Thank you for this well-written and considered piece. It is a shame these issues are not discussed more widely. There is a poverty in the debate around immigration that tends to only focus on economic benefits/drawbacks and population growth, while ignoring the human side and connecting the dots on deliberate government choices. As someone who has had to go through the extortionate and arbitrarily cruel spouse visa system, the message is not lost on me.
It is a shame that Starmer's Labour party attacks the Tories on immigration policy from an even more xenophobic position (if that is even possible) rather than patiently explaining in the way that you do.
I wouldn’t characterise the Labour position as xenophobic. Only some students can bring their families, and it was only widened out to masters students in 2018. They’re only here for 9 months and there isn’t the same need for them to bring families as with workers and PhD students, for example. The Labour line about employers not being allowed to pay migrant workers less seems like a reasonable one and is recommended by the Migration Advisory Committee.
Thank you for this well-written and considered piece. It is a shame these issues are not discussed more widely. There is a poverty in the debate around immigration that tends to only focus on economic benefits/drawbacks and population growth, while ignoring the human side and connecting the dots on deliberate government choices. As someone who has had to go through the extortionate and arbitrarily cruel spouse visa system, the message is not lost on me.
It is a shame that Starmer's Labour party attacks the Tories on immigration policy from an even more xenophobic position (if that is even possible) rather than patiently explaining in the way that you do.