[1/2]A sign is seen in the passport control area of the arrivals hall of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom, on March 23, 2023. Portal/Toby Melville/Files acquire license rights
LONDON, Dec 4 (Portal) – Britain will announce changes to its legal immigration system on Monday after official statistics showed annual arrivals hit a record high last year, putting pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has promised to lower them.
Sunak’s spokesman said the prime minister believes net immigration into the country is too high and needs to be reduced “significantly”.
Britain’s Home Secretary James Cleverly will make a statement to Parliament later on Monday detailing “further measures to reduce levels of legal migration and stop abuse of the system,” Sunak’s spokesman said.
Annual net migration to the UK reached a record 745,000 last year and has remained elevated since then, data last month showed. This puts political pressure on Sunak to take action to reduce them ahead of elections expected next year.
“We think the numbers are too high, they need to be reduced significantly and in the short term,” Sunak’s spokesman said.
“We have evidence that some of the people we meet, particularly family members, are not actively contributing to working life.”
Reporting by Alistair Smout. Editing by Andrew MacAskill and Sarah Young
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