UK's hard-line stance on immigration

THE UK government yesterday said it would give itself stronger powers to deport foreign criminals and lift the threshold for skilled worker visas in a bid to bring down immigration levels.

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"Net migration must come down," interior minister Yvette Cooper wrote in the Sunday Telegraph, a day before she presents the government's Immigration White Paper to parliament, which will contain its proposals.

Her Labour party is under pressure to tackle the issue, with the anti-immigration Reform party scoring a resounding win in recent local elections and riding high in the polls.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on X that previous Conservative governments had "lost control of our borders".