Keir Starmer must come clean over these key migration details, Reform blasts | Politics | News

Hiding details about the impact of mass migration has led to “trust in politics and the system collapsing”, Sir Keir Starmer has been warned.

Reform UK MPs are today urging the Prime Minister to come clean over the economic and social impact of migration.

They want Sir Keir to publish detailed datasets so that “the British people are treated with the respect and decency they deserve”.

The letter, seen by the Daily Express, signed by Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, Lee Anderson, Rupert Lowe and James McMurdock, states: “The overwhelming majority of ordinary people want to end the deliberate policy of mass, uncontrolled legal immigration and regain control over illegal immigration.

“This is causing a national crisis, with public trust in politics and the system collapsing.

“This is weakening our democracy and society.

“We are writing to you because this crisis is being made worse by the fact that information is being withheld or deliberately concealed from the British public.

“While other governments across Europe and elsewhere are collecting and making more data available on the impact of immigration, government departments in the UK appear to be publishing less. Why is this?”

Reform wants the Government to publish data on:

– Income tax and national insurance contributions, tax credits and child benefit data, broken down by immigration status.

– The number of welfare claims, broken down by nationality and welfare status.

– The number of foreign criminals arrested and jailed.

– How many foreign national offenders are repeat offenders sent to prison.

– Detailed financial breakdowns of the cost of housing asylum seekers in taxpayer funded hotel rooms.

– Spending programmes such as the refugee integration loan scheme

Mr Farage told the Daily Express: “It’s time for the government to show the public respect. What are they trying to hide?”

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics show net migration to the UK last year hit 685,000.

The Conservatives were heavily criticised ahead of last month’s election for overseeing record increases in net migration, which hit 685,000 last year and 764,000 in 2022.

Experts have warned this is putting a huge strain on housing, GP surgeries, schools and social integration.

And the Centre for Policy Studies warned that the Government must “rebalance our migration policy” towards high-skilled workers.

Researchers found that the amount low skilled migrants cost the state – through benefits, healthcare and pensions – dwarfs the amount they pay in tax.

And the CPS found that higher-skilled – and average – foreign workers only begin to cost the taxpayer in their twilight years.

Former Home Secretary James Cleverly banned overseas care workers and foreign students from bringing their family members with them to the UK.

The salary threshold for skilled workers was also increased to £38,700.

The previous government aimed to slash the number of people arriving in Britain by 300,000 a year with the measures.

But new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has paused a planned increase in the salary threshold on those hoping to bring their family members to the UK.

This means foreign nationals will only need to earn £28,000 to bring their families to the UK.

The Migration Observatory said of the changes: “In one sense, it will be easy to track whether the Labour government is fulfilling its promises to lower net migration: official data will reveal if net migration falls by a significant amount in the coming months and years.

“However, it is important to note that declining numbers will not necessarily result from the current government’s policies. In addition, the numbers alone do not tell us much about the impacts of net migration, which depend in large part on who is migrating, not just how many.”

Shocking figures have revealed keeping foreign criminals locked up in British prisons is costing taxpayers around £530 million.

Ministers are facing calls to drastically increase the number of foreign national offenders (FNOs) being deported amid a prison overcrowding crisis.

More than 10,000 criminals from abroad are currently in jails, including 2,988 for violent offences and 1,575 behind bars for sexual offences.

The Ministry of Justice has estimated it costs around £50,000 to house every prisoner for a year.