Immigration policy

Abstract

Since their agreement to form a coalition government in May 2010, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have set about the difficult task of making good on the former’s electoral promise to cut immigration from ‘hundreds of thousands’ to ‘tens of thousands’ by the end of this parliament. This represents a volte face on Labour’s demand-led system, which saw net migration rise to over 200,000 per annum, and, if successful, will see a major change in migration flows to the UK. The promise to more than halve immigration in the space of five years, however, has set the government on a collision course with a broad range of organised interests, including businesses ranging from international banks to curry houses, universities, trade unions, and migrant NGOs.