00:00Immigration remains one of the most politically charged issues in Britain
00:05and Labour came into government promising tighter controls of the system.
00:10Since then, some of the headline figures have moved significantly
00:14while other pressures remain.
00:17Net migration, small boat crossings, the asylum backlog,
00:21hotel use and removals all tell different parts of the story.
00:26So two years into government, what has actually changed?
00:31Immigration, one of those issues that seems to be kicking around for time immemorial.
00:35The reality, of course, of this country, if I may say it way back,
00:38is we've always had immigration because, of course, very few people
00:41have traced their roots back to Anglo-Saxon times.
00:44But nonetheless, there is an issue of the more recent arrivals
00:50and, of course, what these people do when they get here.
00:53Now, of course, as we know, in the post-war period, we had mass immigration
00:57because, of course, that was important in terms of rebuilding.
01:00But, you know, if I try and bring ourselves up to date,
01:03I believe that immigration was one of the reasons that as many people vote
01:06as they did to sort of leave the EU, because, of course,
01:09they sort of felt that being part of this bigger economic and political outfit,
01:14it allowed people to sort of move around and we could do it just as easy
01:16to go to parts of Europe.
01:18But, of course, what we were getting with so-called accession,
01:20where we sort of Eastern European countries were coming into the EU,
01:24was people there, and I won't name any sort of particular notions,
01:27could come over here, they could work if they wish, and they could get benefits.
01:30So I think that was a driving force.
01:33The biggest movement is net migration.
01:35The Office for National Statistics estimates it at 171,000 in the year to December 2025,
01:45down from 331,000 a year earlier.
01:48But the Migration Observatory says much of that fall reflects visa restrictions
01:55introduced under the previous Conservative government,
01:58as well as more international students leaving the UK.
02:02Labour has since introduced further restrictions.
02:05On small boats, 33,374 people arrived in the year till June 2026.
02:13That's 23% fewer than the previous 12 months.
02:17The asylum system has changed too.
02:20Just about 40,000 people were waiting for an initial decision at the end of June,
02:25down 56% in a year, while 16,000 supported asylum seekers were in hotels,
02:32half the number a year earlier.
02:34Returns also increased, with more than 40,000 recorded in the year to June.
02:40Now, of course, the great irony is that we left the EU,
02:43and immigration has kind of sort of rocketed,
02:45and we've had in sort of recent times,
02:48and this was under a Conservative government,
02:50yet almost a million people coming in by legal routes.
02:52But, of course, what we tend to focus in on is the sort of the so-called,
02:56well, it's not illegal immigration,
02:57but the sort of the non-legal routes where people arrive,
03:00and it used to be in sort of back of lorries.
03:02Now we're seeing people come on boats.
03:03So, of course, the fact that the government,
03:06the current government under sort of Andy Byrne,
03:08is trying to do, it seems to me,
03:10different things to different sort of parts of the party.
03:12Now, of course, I think to sort of the populace in general,
03:16who are sort of sympathetic, dare I say it,
03:18to people with sort of genuine claims to seek asylum
03:21if they've come from war zones.
03:23But, of course, there is a sort of prevailing view,
03:26and I can put it no stronger than that,
03:27because, of course, I don't talk to everyone,
03:28but the view of the public is that many of the people arriving
03:31are economic migrants.
03:33It's not because they're sort of leaving war zones.
03:35And, of course, indeed, the argument always is,
03:37you know, you've got to France,
03:39and you also get to France,
03:40they've probably passed to other European countries,
03:42and that's a safe country.
03:43So what is it that's attracting to Britain?
03:45But it's a really difficult one,
03:47because, of course, Andy Byrne has come to power
03:48in the sort of sense of sort of being someone
03:50who is more left of centre than his predecessor.
03:53So he's got to sort of ensure he keeps
03:56the sort of the left of centre MPs on side.
03:59Also recognise there is still sort of a threat.
04:01It may have sort of cooled down somewhat.
04:03I'm talking about sort of reform,
04:04but there is still a large number of people
04:07who sort of feel angered about this issue.
04:09So he's got to tread very, very delicately on this one,
04:12because, as I say, it's full of eggshells.
04:14But I still come back to the fact that David Cameron
04:18was talking about reducing sort of immigration
04:21when he was Prime Minister,
04:22and that's what, just over 10 years ago,
04:24to tens of thousands.
04:25Well, hey, we've not reached that.
04:27So there is a problem.
04:28And indeed, perhaps to sort of conclude,
04:30yeah, we have problems with our public services
04:32and taxation and whatever else.
04:34We've got to sort of find a way of sort of dealing with this,
04:36but also not in such a way
04:38as that it's going to cost the sort of the exchequer a fortune,
04:40because, of course, we're already hard pressed
04:42and we do not want taxes to go up any further.
04:44So the official figures show substantial falls
04:47in net migration,
04:49the initial asylum backlog and hotel use,
04:52alongside higher returns.
04:54But those figures do not all measure the same thing,
04:57and not every change can be attributed
05:00to labour policy alone.
05:02Small boat crossings remain a significant part
05:05of the asylum system,
05:07leaving border control and asylum processing
05:10as continuing tests for the government.
