The News
Britain’s Labour government unveiled plans to clamp down on migration, the latest in a spate of left-leaning Western parties talking tough on the issue.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK risks becoming an “island of strangers,” promising to bring migration down by tightening English language requirements, abolishing some visas, and increasing how long someone must live in the UK to qualify for permanent residency.
Declining birth rates make many Western nations reliant on migration, but it is unpopular — in the UK, the proportion of foreign-born people has roughly doubled since 2000 to more than 16% of the population, a major factor behind the rise of the populist right.
Some left-wingers have looked to Denmark, whose social-democratic government remains popular, in part thanks to a strict policy on low-skilled migration.
